Your Blood My Wine
by Megumi15
Summary: An amateur photographer would have never imagined that he would meet a vampire, much less fall for one. And a male one at that!It was wrong..but, The forbidden fruit always did taste so much sweeter..right? SasuNaru fullsumm.inside yaoi
1. Prove It

**FULL Summary:** A bet leads an amateur photographer to an old, abandoned, and supposedly 'haunted' mansion to take pictures of in the dim of night. Unknowing that it wasn't as abandoned as he thought it was.. There he would have never imagined that he would meet a vampire, much less fall for one. And a male one at that! It was wrong.. it was unnatural, but as they say, The forbidden fruit always did taste so much sweeter, right?

**Pairings:** SasuNaru all the way!

**Rated M possibly for later chapters.. (raises brows) you know what i mean.. heheheee.. ehm moving on.**

**Disclaimer:** Starlight starbright, first star I see tonight! I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight! .. Oh how I wish for the Naruto cast to be MINE! mine-mine-mine-mine-mine (and so on..)

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**Your Blood My Wine **

**Chapter One**

**Prove It**

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**-x-X-x-**

It's funny how doing something you have a passion for can sometimes wind you up in the strangest predicaments.

And every now and then that passion, of which you've completely devoted yourself to, can lead you to finding something so much more in life, something that you would never dream of ever letting go.. Something deeper than that one beautiful passion of yours. And then making sacrifices to keep it.

You could call it true love if you want.

Love is easy come easy go. But not True love.

Let something you desire lead you to something greater.

Hold on to it.

It can be easily lost. Slip away so suddenly...

Even if it's something so wrong, so unholy, and even if you know it's just not meant to be..

If you truly love it, hold it close to your heart forever. Cherish it and never let go.

Cause in the end you don't realize how precious it is..

Until it's gone.

**-x-X-x-**

* * *

"_Run, run.. Cling to life." Ever so often I would hear him softly mutter to himself as he stalked by. _

_I was always curious to know the meaning behind this baffling statement, or to be exact, I wondered what it really meant to him. For he always seemed to be in such a fowl mood whenever he uttered the phrase, so I never bothered questioning it.._

_I figure it wise to never bother the immortal, though the bond between us is strong, I feel as if I'm mentally waiting for him to snap and suck the life out of me. Literally._

Immortal_ you ask? _

_Yes as you've probably already guessed.. I've indeed fallen for the lurking creature of the night. The prince of Darkness. A real live vampire. _

_Yes, fangs and all!_

_Exciting isn't it?_

_And how did I ever come upon this unholy predicament?_

_Lets just say at first, from what I remember, it sadly started out with a silly bet in photography class, along with my abnormally large ego consuming me. But I guess if it wasn't for my love of photography then I don't think I'd be where I am now._

_With him. _

_I know it's wrong. I know it's forbidden, hell a committed sin most likely!_

_But that's what makes it all the more exhilarating. _

_Besides, the forbidden fruit always did taste so much sweeter.. Right? _

**--xxx--xXx--xxx--**

It all started with a beautiful day at the park..

"NARUTO!" A young teenage girl called out to the autumn colored surroundings, the search for her friend beginning to irritate her impatient being.

He had disappeared right after they were given the assignment earlier, and now she had walked around the whole park twice and didn't even catch a glimpse of the blue eyed boy anywhere.

She slightly gripped her camera in annoyance as she called out once again, causing frightened birds to fly out of the nearby trees and away from the loud, threatening sound of her voice.

"NARUTOOOO!"

**

* * *

**

"Hey little fella.. now don't move a muscle.." A blond boy cooed, before focusing his camera for clear visual and carefully angling it in the perfect position.

Today's assignment in photography class: to capture "beautiful" footage of nature and wildlife in the Kanoha Community Park. The park being about half a miles walk from the high school was simply the perfect place (in their teachers eyes anyway) for the theme of this weeks main project.

The students had scattered across the park to find the most suitable places to take pictures. It was the perfect day to do so. The skies were clear cerulean blue with thin sheets of cloud spread across and the warm rays of sunlight tickled against the skin of those who were outside enjoying the weather.

Naruto was sitting on a branch (partially struggling for balance), in a tree that was a good twenty feet or higher from the ground, trying to get a nice shot of the taunting squirrel sitting opposite of the branch he was perched on. He loved this class, he just simply loved randomly taking pictures of anything! Capturing a beautiful scene to be forever frozen in time. Ever since he was young he knew he was made for a profession in photography. Out of the whole school day he always looked forward to this class.. no matter how much trouble he may have caused in it..

Naruto leaned forward slightly, nearly losing balance but swiftly regaining it gracelessly. He inhaled deeply, waiting patiently for the squirrel, whom was currently fixated on grooming it's fur for complete shine, to fully face his camera.

The blond haired, blue eyed teen had stalked the poor creature nearly the whole class period, chasing it, and sneaking up on it while trying to be as quiet as possible.. Which was nearly impossible for him, until he finally cornered the animal at the tip of the branch.

The squirrel lifted its head up, large brown eyes blinked in confusion at the unfamiliar black lens staring back at it.

Naruto grinned, setting his finger lightly on the button and whispered, "_Now_-!"

"NARUTO!" A loud feminine voice hollered from below, causing the leaves above to rustle and fall down in response.

The frightened squirrel leaped off the branch and glided to the next tree.

"A flying squirrel!" He cried in amazement, camera still glued to his face as he jumped up from his seated position, hoping to get a quick picture of the animal in the air, and promptly forgetting how much space the branch had to offer. His foot landed in an awkward spot and he slipped. Gravity always seemed to defy the clumsy boy, he noticed this sadly, as his life flashed before his eyes dramatically while he fell.

A yelp was heard. Followed by a crash, then a bright flash going off.

"Naruto!" A girl with pale pink hair ran up to the blond teen who had landed on his back, and luckily in a thick pile of colorful, crunchy autumn leaves.

"Ouch.." Naruto groaned, as he slowly lifted himself up with his arms, limbs trembling slightly, and muttering curses about trees and stupid squirrels that randomly flew.

The girl sighed and noted how he was amazingly still able to move after falling from that height. "Why on earth were you sitting in a tree?" She eyed him, wondering why she even asked such an obvious question. Because he was just plain weird.

The blond stood up and dusted himself off, "I was trying to get some photos of that stupid animal- then you scared it away! Sakura you loud mouth.."

She growled at him, watching as he stretched out the kinks in his back, and yet she somehow managed to refrain from strangling her dear friend to death. Sakura heaved a sigh and crossed her arms tightly after a chilling breeze caressed her skin. She noticed Naruto tremble slightly as he continued to rake off the leaves that clung to his clothing.

"Well I came to get you, remember Kurenai told everyone to gather by the fountains at three o'clock with all our footage."

"Oh right!" Naruto patted his pockets, finding them empty, he then circled around in place, searching the area, "Oi where the hell's my camera?"

Sakura, who had started to make way to the appointed area, turned around and gave him a look, "Are you serious? You lost it already?"

He ignored her comment and began to dig around the leaves scattered across the grass.

"Crap, crap, crap!"

She snorted and scanned the area for the camera. Naruto always had a bad tendency for losing things.. Especially things that didn't belong to him. She had learned a lesson after letting him borrow her favorite red ribbon, him needing it for god knows what, a stupid project of his she presumed. In the end it was eventually returned to her in fine shreds. She never questioned it.

"Hey," She noticed something silver and shiny under a heap of leaves near the bulky tree trunk, and pointed at it, "Is that it?"

Relief washed over Naruto as he launched himself like a torpedo towards the pile and pulled the object out by the orange lanyard connected to it. He hung it in front of his face with a huge grin.

The grin quickly dispersed as he stared in shock at it, and his face paled. The poor camera had a large dent right in the middle and the lens had a fairly visible crack across it in the shape of a "Y."

"Good going, you probably landed on it."

"I'm dead."

Sakura sighed, the poor guy was having a stroke of bad luck today, as he did almost everyday. She knew he was naturally clumsy but this was the third camera he had destroyed within the last two months. The teacher wasn't going to be very happy.

"C'mon we have to go."

Naruto's lip quivered and he fell dramatically to his knees, holding the broken object towards the heavens, and cried out, "WHHHY MEEE?.!-"

The irritated pink girl grabbed him by the collar and vigorously dragged him down the trail towards the drinking fountains.

"Alright student's I hope you've caught some interesting footage, I'm excited to look through them all! But before you all go home I'm going to assign you a knew project so you can get a head start on it."

The class, standing in straight rows before their teacher, groaned in unison, not looking forward to homework over the long awaited weekend.

Kurenai gave the whiny teens a firm glare until they straightened their slumped posture and shut their mouths tight. She then nodded and smiled sweetly.

"Alright! I want everyone to gather information on any antiquated or historical area in this town and take pictures of the area. The places can vary from churches and schools to old homes. Got it?" She clapped to urge a response from the bored crowed.

"Yeeess.." The students replied, lacking enthusiasm.

"Have a nice weekend!" She cried cheerfully, and watched the students gleefully gallop away… well in her eyes anyway, (it was more like vigorously trampling over each other to get enjoy the beginning of the weekend.)

After everyone was out of sight, Naruto crept towards his teacher with the damaged camera hidden behind his back. The brunette woman was busy collecting her things when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Um Miss Kurenai..?" Came a stuttering voice.

She turned towards the boy and blinked. "Yes Naruto?" Her eye twitched when she noticed the nervous look on Naruto's face.. Which was never a good thing as she had experienced from time to time.

"Um.. I was wondering if I could possibly.. uh.. have a new camera?" He stated quickly then smiled sheepishly as he reluctantly held out the smashed object.

Naruto stepped back in cower as his teacher's face grew dark. He gulped. He swore he could see the red glint in her eye.

Her figure loomed dangerously over him, fists shaking madly.

A bead of sweat slid down his face and he let out a nervous laugh. "uh… sorry?"

And across the town a thundering voice that shook all the buildings was heard causing citizens to curiously poke their heads out of their homes.

"NARRUUTOOO!"

**

* * *

**

Naruto walked down the sidewalk with his hands stuffed in his pockets casually as he made his way home. The neighborhood he was passing through was currently a quiet and peaceful area but something about it gave him a strange and chilling feeling in his gut.

He didn't know why.

The feeling just came every time he passed this area, a cold and lonely one.. Yet he always felt as if he was being watched from afar.

His cerulean eyes shifted from left to right, trying to catch someone possibly hiding in a nearby bush. He really did hate this awkward 'I'm being watched' feeling.

A cool breeze stirred.

"Hey Naruto!"

He blinked and glanced behind him, finding his friend Kiba, an avid dog lover, waving a hand in the air and the lazy Shikamaru walking beside him.

Naruto waited generously until the two had caught up with him and they started walking side by side.

Kiba took notice of the camera hanging around Naruto's neck being slightly different from the one he had used earlier, black in color instead of silver, "New gear?" The brunette poked the picture taking device, causing it to sway slightly.

"Yeah.. Along with a painful lecture." He drawled with a tone of annoyance.

"Ah.." Kiba nodded and looked ahead with a sigh, _"So he broke another.. Typical." _

The blond boy did a quick change of subject with a strained tone, "Geez why does it have to be historical.. how old is this town anyway?" He asked examining the homes surrounding them. The buildings looked pretty ancient to him, with few houses designed possibly an early Victorian style. But that was just around this part of town, downtown was completely modern of course and about a few miles walk to get to (and also where Naruto's apartment was located). The bloody school was unfortunately located in the older part of the city, so he definitely had quite a walk.

Shikamaru, finally pulling his head out of the clouds and back to the real world, took the liberty of answering his stubborn friend, "Some of these buildings date back to the 1800's, so it shouldn't be to hard… though it's still such a troublesome project."

"I think I'll do the church, looks ancient enough.." Kiba shrugged.

Naruto scrounged his lips "Got any ideas for me?"

"Nope."

He pouted.

They strolled down the sidewalk chattering about girls, school, and whatever else boys conversed about until Kiba took a sudden halt in front of the other two.

They had stopped in front of a thick, black iron gate with vines that snaked around the bars. Kiba pointed at the house beyond the gates and grinned, "Hey check it out.. The old Uchiha Manor!" He leaned closer to Naruto and nudged him on his forearm, "They say it's haunted.."

The other two teens observed the area. A grey stone path led to an old red brick Victorian manor house. It was huge, surrounded by nearly dead trees, shrubbery and the house itself was covered in dead vines. They mentally noticed how the place gave off an eerie vibe, it may have been a beautiful home but it had an mysterious aura that lingered around it. Definitely the first impression was a haunted house out of a horror flick.

Naruto shivered and managed to choke out, "H-Haunted?" He downright hated ghosts, or anything to do with ghosts. Anything spooky, creepy, forbidden supernatural and what-not, he didn't want anything to do with it.

Kiba nodded and leaned casually against the locked gate, "Yeah, I heard two teenagers were dared to go in and they never came out. Some people say they can hear cries of agony in the middle of the night, and lights flickering in the windows."

Naruto paled and began to rub the goose bumps that magically appeared on his arms. He wasn't at all fond of scary stories, "Creepy.."

"I bet the place is over a hundred years old, it's been abandoned for years now." Shikamaru added paying no mind to Kiba's little story.

"You know it would be the perfect place to take pictures- It looks pretty historical to me." Kiba said while sticking his hand past the bars of the gate and poking at the iron lock, "Eh how bout it Shika?" He glanced at his uninterested friend.

"Too troublesome."

"You're just scared."

Shikamaru sighed and gazed above at the swirls of white clouds while stuffing his hands in his pockets, "I've already decided on a place."

"Alright.. Naruto-"

He blinked then pointed at the mansion, crying out madly, "Hell no! I'm not going in there by _myself_!"

The brunette snorted, "Loser."

The blond scoffed back at him, "Why cant you? If your so interested in it."

"I told you I'm doing the church. And besides you said you needed ideas."

"Yeah But-!"

Shikamaru cut in with a tone of boredom, and stared at the blond firmly, "There are no such things as ghosts Naruto, and if you're too scared then do it in the morning."

"Tch! I'm not scared of anything!" He shot up a confident fist in the air as he declared, then he crossed his arms and gave a smug, defiant grin aimed mostly towards Kiba.

Kiba's eyes twinkled as if he had conducted some sort of twisted plan inside his usually simple mind, "Then prove it!"

Naruto raised a delicate brow. Kiba stepped in front of him, with firm eye to eye contact. "Go in the mansion _tonight_ and take some pictures. Then show us on Monday as proof."

Naruto nearly fell over, then straightened himself back up. He swallowed hard and stuttered, "T-tonight? As in when the sun isn't out any more?"

Kiba rolled his eyes, ".. yeees when it's dark. That's_ the point_."

The blond found his mouth suddenly dry. The hell?.! He wasn't going in that damned spooky mansion! Especially not alone! He always saw this kind of thing in the movies, the idiot wanders into the creepy house and ends up being murdered by a caveman-like psycho that leaps out of the bushes in a barbaric way, with a bloody chainsaw in hand! No way in hell was he going to be the idiot!

Daring to look back at the manor behind them, he noticed something that sent a wave of relief across his tensed features. He pointed at the large black lock connected with clinking chains that wrapped around the gate securely, "But.. Oh _look_ its _locked_!" He turned on his heel, "Tooo Baaad.. Guess I cant-" As he was beginning to walk away from the area he heard a click from behind. Along with a yawn, most likely coming from cloud boy.

He turned around, finding Kiba with the lock in one hand and bobby pin in the other. ..Why he had a bobby pin in the first place was something Naruto didn't fancy on finding out any time soon.

"There unlocked. Now you have access tonight." He tossed the lock to the side.

Naruto peered evilly at the brunette, "And what do I get out of it?"

"Newfound bravery and an early completion of homework." Kiba stated precisely.

"Not fair! I aint going in!"

Kiba huffed, "Fine how bout a deal then? If you get at least three pictures of each room, while it's dark, and show us tomorrow, then I'll believe when you say that you are not afraid of anything _and.._ I will bring you ramen for lunch for two weeks."

Naruto's eyes were now sparkling blue saucers while all the thoughts of fear were completely pushed to the back of his mind, "RAMEN? YOSHU! IT'S A DEAL!" He cheered with a fist in the air.

"Don't forget, you might want to bring a flashlight or something.. Wandering around in the dark might not be such a smart thing to do. And if a ghost comes out and starts strangling you then don't worry, you can just run out in fear crying for your mommy and forget about our little bet." The brunette snorted a suppressed laughter.

Naruto's temper rose and being the brash teen he was, aimed a punch at Kiba's nose that was instantly dodged, with the punch connecting to the cold iron fence behind them.

"Ow! Damnit You bastard!" He cradled his throbbing hand while pouting.

As Naruto stood examining his injured hand, he hadn't notice his two friends departure until he heard a sarcastic call from the Inuzuka, "Have fun! And don't forget to turn the flash button on before you take a picture Moron!"

Shikamaru waved his hand in the air and said loud enough for the blond to hear, "See yah."

The teen watched through slit eyes as the other two disappeared behind a slope. He bit the bottom of his lip and glanced at his wrist watch. It was already 4:34pm. He groaned. The sun didn't set till 6:30. So that meant that he only had two hours to accomplish everything he wanted before his death. ( meaning before becoming victim to the psychotic man with a chainsaw that apparently lived in the bushes near the manor.)

He looked back at the abandoned mansion before departing to his home to shovel as much ramen as he possibly could down his throat. He couldn't die on an empty stomach now could he?

A cold breeze stirred around him as he walked down the path. Then a thought hit him, what if he was caught sneaking in the home? Surely no one lived there but what if it was still private property? It was apparently locked up for a good reason. And he was hoping that that reason wasn't because of two kids being murdered there..

He shivered then muttered to himself, "What the hell have I gotten myself into?…me and my damn ego.."

**--xxx--xXx--xxx--**

**Meg: **Wellll I hope this was okay for the starting of my first vampire fic! Okay i think what i wrote in the begining may have been a bit cheesy or confusing, lame whater you wanna call it! haha i was bored.. im not the poetic type so be nice about it. Woopie I also have another vampire fic Idea that I might start.. Might.. It depends on how lazy I get. Toodles!

**Review! it'd be nice to know your opinions on this!- Should i continue? Well i most likely will cause i have lovely ideas for this fic! comments and critics only. No flammers! **

**Yeeesh review or you shall be CURSED! BWAHAHA!... oh im kidding..**


	2. A Killer? A Stalker? A Monster?

Hey sorry it took a while to update! Enjoy, also i was to lazy to go back and check for errors (i'll do it someother time) And I also dont have a beta reader so you'll have to ednure any mistakes that may appear throughout the chapter..

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**Chapter two:**

**A Killer? A Stalker? A Monster? **

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Just minutes after the sun had set, Naruto found himself standing before the iron gates of doom (also known as the Uchiha Mansion) once again. Naruto began to silently pout as he pushed the rusty old gate open with an eerie screech. 

"_Don't be a pussy now.. T-There's no such thing as ghosts.."_ He tried to think reassuringly. That's when an icy, spine prickling gush of wind swirled around his body along with colorful autumn leaves encircling his lean figure.

Naruto gulped, staring at the house sitting silently in the shadows ahead. It looked so much more harmless during the day then at the dark of night.

He nodded with confidence and squared his shoulders as he made his way up the stone path. The full blue moon that hung over the manor bathed the front yard with enough light for Naruto to make his way through the dead plants and vines without getting tangled into any.

He stopped for a moment to admire the fountain that was situated in the middle of the courtyard. The fountain was carved into a detailed young child with angelic wings, the right one broken off, holding a small pot of where he assumed the water _used_ to spill from.

Naruto took a moment to examine the face (he was actually stalling to enter the manor..), The face was full and round, the chisled eyes were half lidded... and the.. Naruto took a quick step back. The little stone girl suddenly seemed to be smiling _at_ him.. In almost a sinister sort of way. It only sent even more chills down his already tingling spine.

"Man no wonder this place has been abandoned for years.. It creeps the hell out of me." He muttered to himself, trying to hide the shakiness in his voice.

He walked up the numerous steps to the house and softly rattled the door knob. To his dismay the door slowly screeched open. "_Damn so it wasn't locked.. Oh well." _He inhaled deeply and walked in not realizing he hadn't let go of the breath he was holding.

Naruto's heart began to beat a little faster than normal as he examined the entrance of the foyer. The room was massive and dark and… extremely dark as a matter of fact.

"Guess a flashlight would be useful." He reached in the school bag that he had brought along full of necessary items he needed for the project and pulled out a flashlight.

He flicked it on.

As if on cue the front door suddenly slammed shut behind him. He leapt in the air, and spun around screaming. "HOLY SHIT!"

The startled blond stared at the door with bulging cerulean eyes and pointed the flashlight that was shaking out of control towards the dark doorway.

"Th-the wu-wind, it w-was just the wind." He stuttered between gasps of breath trying to convince otherwise of the sudden phenomena.

Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat and turned back around, recovering from the near heart attack. _"Why am I doing this? I'm the biggest chicken in school.." _

It was true, Naruto was more likely to die of fright rather then old age or disease. He's never seen the inside of his closet fearing the boogeyman, and he's always slept with the lights on. No matter how much Iruka complained about the electricity bill.

He took another breath to calm his nerves before seizing the camera around his neck and proceeding into the depths of the old manor, his eyes trailing up towards the ceiling where the largest (and_ pointiest_..) chandelier he'd ever seen in his entire lifetime hung above his head. If that damn thing fell it would be the end of his short, unfortunate life. He was too young to die by an extremely large piece of glass.

Then crazy enough the crystal chandelier slightly shook as if it had been caressed by an invisible wind. Naruto squeaked in the most unmanly way and decidedly quickened his pace away from its radius. _"Lets get it over with before I scare myself shitless.."_

The hesitant blond teenager was currently unaware of the curious pair of blood red eyes watching his every movement from the shadows of the second floor. It smiled sinisterly when the visitor suddenly stopped walking and began to rub his shivering arms, he could smell undeniable fear in the warm blood that pulsed through his veins.

The hairs on the nape of Naruto's neck stood on end. Why did it suddenly feel like someone, or _something, _was watching him? Was he just being paranoid? He slowly peered over his shoulders and scrutinized the top of the grand staircase.

Nothing.

The feeling had then miraculously vanished into thin air and he reverted back to beginning his project.

"_This is it. The beginning of my greatest nightmare.. I just know it."_

* * *

Walking down the long red carpeted corridor, Naruto tried his best to ignore any unusual sounds as he flicked the light from right to left. Cobwebs coated the corners of the ceiling, and being deathly afraid of those creepy crawly arachnids, he noted to keep a far distance from those areas. 

He occasionally passed by old paintings of strange looking people whom he figured may have lived here before or were possibly the ancestors of the last resident. Naruto assumed these portraits probably dated back into the seventeenth century by the types of clothing they wore, yet it fascinated the blond boy.

He also noted how most of the people in the portraits were holding an interesting red and white fan or sporting its design on their outfit. "_Wonder if it was some sort of family symbol?" _He inquired silently.

The blond then continued the stroll down the hall with caution, occasionally whipping his head behind his back to make sure nothing was.. Well, stalking him.

Yes he was a paranoid freak, lets just leave it at that.

"Boy if Iruka knew I was snooping around here he would ground me for life.." Naruto muttered quietly under his breath, afraid he would possibly wake the living dead that he believed to possibly be buried in the dark depths of the house somewhere.

Of course he was always told that he had quite the imagination, still you never now..

Away from that matter, he felt pretty guilty for lying to his guardian. Apparently he was supposed to be at Kiba's tonight at a sleepover… "_Which currently sounds like a much more appealing place to be right now, no matter how much of an ass Kiba can be." _

Finally he came upon the first set of double doors after aimlessly roaming the endless hallway. Naruto set his bag against the wall and began to open the door, praying to the god's that the room beyond wasn't going to be some kind of sick torture chamber complete with shackled skeletons chained to the walls and all.

He entered, and attempted the light switch on the wall beside him. As he figured there was no power left. It was a dead house. Tch.. figures Kiba would set him up into something like this. (Even though it was his ego to blame for accepting the challenge.. And the fact that ramen was involved..)

Naruto examined the room with the flashlight, relieved to find it was only a bedroom. He gawked in amazement, this bedroom was bigger that his apartment!

Stealthily he moved in further, where he found a king sized bed at the far end with cherry wood frames and sheltered in tattered red drapes. The curtains against the massive arched window were also crimson and torn at the ends.

The air was thick of dust that tickled his nose and the moonlight spilled into the room, giving it an eerie yet soft glow.

"Alright," Naruto began to snap a few pictures of the room. Catching an image of the bed and window together and turning to the other side where there was a beautiful stone fireplace with two chairs in front of it were covered with white sheets.

"Hm." Satisfied with what he had, the blond teen curiously began to roam around the room, admiring it so, "I wonder who's room this belonged to.." He wondered out loud.

His gaze traveled to an antiquated picture hanging on the wall that would indeed answer his question. It was a painting of a beautiful boy with pale ivory skin that matched perfectly with his raven locks that framed his features delicately. He was also holding the same red and white fan in one hand like the people in the other pictures he came across.

But what entranced Naruto the most about this picture was the boys eyes. Deep, dark and mysterious yet a hint of annoyance in them. Naruto chuckled lightly, he looked like a stubborn child really.

He didn't blame the kid, he would've been pissed as well if he had to sit in the same position for hours until the painter was done. Ah the wonderful world of digital photography!

Then a loud creaking sound out of the silence made a startled Naruto jump nearly ten feet into the air. Only when he stopped freaking out did he realize it was just the wind pressuring the old window.

"_Okay I'm done with this room!" _He thought as he gripped his chest, trying to settle his heart beat back to its normal pace once again. This was going to be harder than he anticipated if he was just going to freak out whenever this house made the slightest noise.

Naruto sighed deeply, unable to hide the shakiness in his breath. He realized that the atmosphere had changed drastically from peaceful stillness to a deathly cold silence.

He turned on his heel sharply preparing to get the hell out of there as fast as possible.

And he then unexpectedly collided into something tall and firm.

Naruto yelped as he was forced backwards, falling onto the hardwood floor with a loud and painful 'thump' and his digital camera flying out of his hand, landing somewhere across the room.

"OW!" _God Damn! _His eyes were squeezed shut as he began to rub his bottom feverously. It had gone numb soon after its connection to the floor! Fucking floor. Fucking hard ass wooden floor. Fucking furniture appearing out of nowhere..

-Wait a minute.

He stopped rubbing his sore butt and stiffened as realization dawned. _"Since when was there ever a piece of furniture standing right behind me?" _He gulped. Unless furniture could move magically like in Beauty and The fucking Beast, or this was just some sort of demented "fun" house then he was in for a dead surprise. (_Literally_)

Then he dared to look up at the thing he had crashed into, and froze to the point where all the color drained from his face. His frightened baby blue eyes met the bloody orbs of a tall, dark cloaked figure that loomed dangerously over his small frame. It stood in the shadows where the moonlight dare not touch, making it impossible to see any sort of facial feature.

Naruto was too shocked from his horror to speak. Oh God No. He knew this would happen! Damn Kiba and Shikamaru didn't believe him when he said there was a psycho slash killer slash possible cannibal lurking around here somewhere!

The silhouette stood, silently scrutinizing the foriegn boy, and exposing an intense icy stare. The boy's face was bathed in the moons soft glow with his golden tresses of hair framing his angelic features. Those wide ocean blue eyes sparkled in wild fear and his lean chest rose and fell rapidly. This intruder.. was quite beautiful.

The dark figures shallow breath was barely audible, whilst Naruto was absent mindedly holding his. There silence sat between the two.

He tensed under the chilling stare. What's going on here? Why was this person standing above him and staring like that in this deathly silence?.! Exactly WHO the hell was this person anyway for that matter?! Was this being going to suddenly snap from that fierce gaze and brutally murder him? Or.. _gulp.._ Molest him?.!.! (_then _murder him after that.) Sick. Just sick.

This was just like in all those horror movies Kiba and Shino had forced him to watch. NOO he was to young to die!

_Wait.._

Why the hell was he freaking out so much?.. maybe it's just the owner.. Yeah that's right. The _owner-_ But why was it so hard to convince himself that!.?

Ah that's right, because apparently there hadn't been an owner of this house for nearly two hundred years..

A trickle of cold sweat slid down the teens paled face. Well you never know.. A new owner (with creepy contacts) could've claimed the home without anyone else knowing right?.. Right?.! Kurenai had her red contacts in all the time! Maybe this guy was just a wild freak like her too??

"Uh uh-u I Im Su-ssorry I..I," Naruto began stuttering to a point where it was nearly hard for him to even understand and swallowed hard as the gaze intensified. "I didn't n-know th-the-that someone lu-lived here.."

Naruto began scooting backwards when those wine soaked orbs slowly curved as if in amusement. _"Oh God it's going to eat me!" _He wailed inwardly.

Silence.

A cricket chirped somewhere.

Then a deep yet dark and silky voice killed the stillness, "I'm.. not going to eat you." He stated emotionlessly.

The blond paled ten shades_. Holy Shit!.!_ Okay! No more time for sitting around like a fucking duck! Naruto scrambled off the floor and launched his ass out of that room leaving behind his belongings and a cloud of dust.

The dark figure still stood silently not bothering to look back at where the boy exited in remarkable speed. Those glowing wine eyes trailed down at the forgotten silver camera laying on the cold ground, and then he smirked. This boy seemed amusing. And he had been craving for something to satisfy his taste for months now. He wasn't going to let such a beautiful mortal treat get away to easily now.

A dark chuckle escaped from the figures lips as his pale ivory hand reached over to grab the forgotten camera.

* * *

_Must run! Run run run!_

Faster! _Far_- as far away as fucking possible!

Naruto turned a sharp corner and skidded the sidewalk, running aimlessly to who knew where. As long as he was nowhere near the freak he encountered in that damned house! _He read my mind! My fucking MIND! Oh God what if it's following me?!_ He mentally screamed.

After minutes of running aimlessly, he somehow managed to stumble upon the entrance to the park in which he and his class had spent in earlier that day. Cutting through the park was the faster way to get to his home (though there would still be another mile or two to get downtown) yet without a second thought he ran down the dimmly lit trail until after a few minutes his legs finally (_and unfortunately_) gave out.

"Damn.." He muttered, kneeling on the dirt path and trying to catch his breath. The dim street light above him began to flicker and buzz.

"Maybe I should call Kiba or Shikamaru.. They could probably pick me up." Anyway they couldn't accuse him for chickening out since there really _was_ a creepy mind reader that was ( _not really)_ but was most likely about to kill him!

He sighed and, using what energy he had left to spare, dragged himslef up to a swing hanging from the branch of a willow tree and sat down. Then he began to pat his pockets.

Empty again.

"NOOO! My phone was in here a minute ago!!!" Why? Why did he always have to loose everything?.! Especially when he needed it the most!

That's when he realized that he left _all_ his belongings in the damned manor.. Including his _new_ camera.. "_SHIT!" _

Naruto groaned and slumped back in the swing, to worn out to run around frantically in circles while yanking his hair out. Yes, he could just picture Sakura's taunting face now as he wallowed in his grief. Life was not being fair, God was being cruel to him, and Lady Luck paid no mind to his existence.

"_What am I supposed to do now? Wait here until I magically regain energy?" _Probably not, he was too exhausted to be able to regain any sort of stamina any time soon. All that freaking out and running for his life really drained him.

Damn. So what now? Wait for the dude in black drapes to come find him and kill him? _"What was he anyway? A Killer? A stalker? A Monster?.!" _And how in the hell was he going to get his stuff back anyways?.! There was no way in hell was he going back.

_Ugh.. whatever who gives a damn now_. He was becoming to tired to even think about his current situation. As long as he was safe here.. It would be okay.. Right?

"Damn.." He yawned loudly causing his eyes to water in response, "I cant keep… my.. damn eyes.. open.." Naruto muttered groggily with half lidded eyes, while resting his cheek on one of the ropes holding the swing. He couldn't help it.. "_No… I cant fall asleep..!"_

Then a twig snapped somewhere.

This caused Naruto's head to snap up in response. His eyes now bulging out as he gripped the ropes. He was wide awake now! He could practically hear his heart pounding along with the blood rushing through his body.

Those azure eyes darted frantically, examining the dark trees and the whole area around him. "M-maybe it was .. Just an a-animal.." Yeah! It was a park after all. Hell, maybe it was that flying squirrel from earlier, out to seek revenge from being stalked by the blonde with the big scary camera for nearly an hour.

Ah, but that was wishful thinking.

Naruto gulped and looked behind him, seeing nothing but tree's, grass, and that flickering street lamp.

He closed his eyes and calmed, this was nature, of course there would be noises like this..

Naruto almost laughed at his stupidity_, almost_. Sighing pathetically he turned his head forward and opened his eyes.

Then fell backwards off of the swing screaming.

----

**Megumi: **Its amazing Naruto hasn't run out of breath yet from all that screaming! Poor Naruchan.. Ive been doing nothing in this chappie but scaring the living daylights out of him. Well there was only a shadowy appearance of our lovely Sasuke vampire. Of course next chapter he will be introduced more formally.

Till next time Ja ne!

If you have any questions or comments on this then do leave a review! I also like critiques so if you think there's anything I need to improve on then do tell! I could always use a few extra pointers here and there.


	3. Picture Perfect, Sort of

Hello everyone! Here's a late Christmas Gift! Sorry i wouldve posted earlier but my internet was being retarded all week. So heres the next chapter then! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Three:**

**Picture Perfect.. Sort of..**

* * *

--Recap-- 

A twig snapped somewhere.

Naruto gulped and cautiously glanced behind him, seeing nothing but tree's, grass, and that flickering street lamp.

He closed his eyes and calmed, this was nature, of course there would be noises like this..

Naruto almost laughed at his stupidity_, almost_. Sighing pathetically he turned his head forward and opened his eyes. ….

* * *

**Your Blood My Wine**

* * *

He froze when his gaze landed low upon the pair of piercing grey orbs of a dark figure crouched in front of his swing. 

"AGGGHHH!!!" Naruto automatically threw himself backwards and off said swing, and landed onto the slick moistened grass painfully on his rump, his legs momentarily tangled into the thick ropes before he managed to rip them away.

"Ow.." He winced at the pain for a split second, (this was the third time today that he had fallen on his ass) then quickly scrambled to his feet, staring in terror at the dark figure still sitting on the other side of the swing.. Staring back at the blond with what he appeared to believe looked like a demons eyes that had a sort of greenish glow to them. This caused an involuntary chill to prickle down his spine. It was too dark to tell who or _what_ it was…_ I-Is it that creepy psychic guy? D..Did it follow me?!_

It sat motionlessly. Staring.

Naruto gulped.

Cold sweat slid down his forehead, _"I-it keeps staring at me.. Shit it's definitely that guy again!" _He mentally convinced himself. Of course it had to be him, what other weirdo would be out this time of night, appear out of nowhere and have a full out staring contest with him? Although crouching in front of the swing was a little.. _Strange _for an extremely tall person.. _"Forget whatever the hell it is! I'm outta here!"_

Just as Naruto was about to turn on his heal and create another cloud of dust..

"_Woof!_"

The blond blinked at the creature dumbly.

It stood up on all fours and emerged from the dark area and into what little light the street lamp had to offer, where a perplexed Naruto had been standing stiffly. (He was seemingly still calculating the sound that had been emitted from the creature.)

A black Labrador sat in front of Naruto and stared back up at him with adorably large grey eyes (eyes that Naruto declared had looked like demon eyes a few moments ago..). The tail was wagging with excitement and his moist pink tongue lolled out of his mouth, dripping with sticky saliva.

Naruto blew a loud sigh of relief and patted his chest to ease his heartbeat, "A dog… just a dog."

The blond slumped and stared irritably at the animal. Boy did he feel like the biggest retard of the century.

"_I cant believe I nearly had a heart attack because of a stupid dog!" _Naruto stuck his bottom lip up, crossed his arms, then looked away, trying to hide his shame from the panting animal below him. No one would ever hear about this - how sixteen year old Uzumaki Naruto was nearly scared shitless by a small Labrador, and the most playful and harmless breed of canine at that. Kiba would have a field day with this.

He peeked down at the dog. With his tongue still dangling out, the dog seemed to be grinning happily towards the blue eyed boy.

Said dog then cocked it's head to the side cutely, as if scrutinizing the human's disregard towards the animal. Naruto's lips quivered, trying to hold back the temptation to crack a smile. He didn't have to try and deny it, no matter much of an idiot he felt like after assuming the animal was the creepy man, he was indeed an animal lover. Anyway it was hard not to stay angry at such a sweet face.

"Eh.. I guess you are.. kinda cute." He admitted, smiling warmly and reaching over to ruffle the canine's ears.

To say the least he actually felt a little relieved now, he wasn't all alone in this dark and eerie park anymore.

Naruto kneeled in front of the black canine and rubbed its neck, the animal groaning in response to the loving touch. "Hm I wonder where you came from…?"

Hey why not start a conversation with an animal that couldn't understand him? At least it took his mind off of other unpleasant thoughts. Such as psycho mind readers hungrily watching him from the bushes at the dead of night while scraping a fork and knife together!!

... Hey he could be cannibal, you can never be to sure!

"..Heh, Maybe you could be my guard dog eh?" Naruto's toothy grin widened causing the scars on his cheeks to slightly stretch. Then he stated merrily, "I think I'll call you fluffy!"

The dog froze, its eyes nearly bulging out like a deer caught in headlights. The sweet face displayed not to long ago now held an expression of utter terror. Not a second later did Fluffy rip away from Naruto's grooming and fled with its tail between its legs.

The oblivious blond boy hadn't realized what the poor dog's terror stricken eyes had been focused upon though...

"Hey! Don't leave me!" Naruto demanded, springing to his feet and watched as the dog disappeared into the dark depths of the park. "C'mon it's not _that_ bad of a name!" He insisted… actually he thought it suited the dog quite well..

The blond teen crossed his arms and pouted. He was alone again. "So much for loyalty.." He muttered in annoyance.

Naruto sighed. _A cat would be more reliable_, he thought randomly. He scratched the back of his head and yawned. "Guess I should try to push myself home then.."

He then frose.. what was that sound? .. It was faint but it sounded like.. _A shallow breath? .._Coming from behind him. _No it's the wind.. _Naruto's teeth began to chatter. His heart beating heavily against his chest as he began to feel a warm air.. or more like a husky breath slightly caress his neck, causing prickling shivers to travel across his whole body. _Please.. let it be the wind.. _He inwardly begged.

Then it stopped. Naruto blew a huge sigh of relief, releasing the breath he had be holding. _Of course it was the wind.. i need to seriously stop overreacting._

Naruto slowly spun around then yelped loudly when he suddenly came in contact with a tall dark form and the familiar blood soaked orbs from earlier. He jumped backwards, this time tripping over the swing, arms flailing in the air as he crash landed on his back on the other side of the cursed swinging device.

"Y-You!" He pointed madly from the grassy ground. This guy definitely had a nack for silently creeping up from out of nowhere.

The swing screeched back and forth in the long uncomfortable silence. Naruto's pointing hand fell limp as all the fear had suddenly dispersed, and he began to gap at the male above. Given there was actually a source of light provided by the moon and street lamps, he was finally able to see this dark figure's features. … well he was _stunning_ to say the least, even if he was also a guy. Ivory skin that glowed in the moonlight, thick locks of ebony hair that spiked freely in the back, and deep grey bedroom eyes that…. weren't.. red anymore. "_What the hell? Was I imagining it?!" _

The tall male stepped closer.

Naruto made a defensive barrier by covering his arms over his face, "GAH! Don't hurt me! Stay away you freak!!"

The taller gothic looking boy stared momentarily at the trembling blond beneath him and then made somewhat of a scoffing sound. He then unexpectedly tossed a silver object to the other boy carelessly then spoke.

"Aren't you the rude one. Barging into my house uninvited then run away yelling like an idiot. And now I try to return something of yours and yet you yell more? _How annoying_." The smooth stoic voice was obviously laced with irritancy.

Naruto looked down at the camera and back up, feeling slightly shocked, he began to stammer, "Bu-but I… you.." Well the guy did have a point there..

The raven haired boy smirked.

Naruto felt slightly intimidated at this, a reaction that did not sit well with him, "What the hell do you want from me?!" He cried, his voice slightly hitched.

He quirked a dark brow slightly amused, "Whoever said I _wanted _anything from you?" The voice almost seemed taunting.

Naruto sat up, digging his fingers into the moist earth, and gave him a crazy and utterly confused look, "….uh but- what a.. w-with the eyes and…um ...and. Th-the… mind thing-WHO ARE YOU?!"

The tall male winced at the sudden outburst, "I just came to return to you what you left behind so carelessly." He stated in the same stoic tone. _This one is way to loud and annoying.. It'd be best if I dispose of him as soon as possible.. _

Naruto, busy examining his camera for any injuries, missed the suddenly wicked glint in those deep coal eyes. He gave a satisfied sigh, his camera was fine.. He wouldn't have to worry about receiving another outburst from his photography teacher.

The blond stood up, stumbling slightly, and patted the grass and dirt off his clothing. The ebony haired boy just watched, expressionless. _Well since he took the time to return this to me then I guess really isn't that .. Uh ..scary."_

"Well.." Naruto shoved the photography device in his jean pocket and looked back at the strange guy with a small smile, "um… thanks for giving this back to me. Any other idiot around here would have probably kept it. You also saved my skin from the wrath my teacher would have impaled on me if I lost this thing! And trust me she can be really scary sometimes! So… I guess you're really not a bad person after all eh! Silly me for thinking that! .. I'm really.. Sorry. Eh-heh..heh.." He rubbed the back of his neck as he chuckled nervously.

A calm wind caressed the dark tree's surrounding them, causing leaves to rustle and break away from the branches.

The raven's face slowly turned into somewhat of a pained yet bitter expression, ".. You have no idea what your talking about.. don't assume things about a person you know nothing of." _Damn just when I thought I was going to have a guilt free snack.._

The blond raised a questioning brow, "What.. do you mean? We'll I mean sure you're a little weird but, well in the light at least, you don't look like a bad person. Oh hey speaking of weird! How the heck did you know what I was thinking back at the mansion? Are you some sort of psychic or what?"

He was silent for a few moments before he spoke, ".. I guessed.. By the expression on your face." This blond guy sure as hell talked a lot. It was hard trying to find the perfect moment to strike.. In fact why wasn't he even trying to make a move? . Maybe he was just interested in knowing more about this guy.. _Hn yeah right, I'm just getting lazy.. _

Besisdes, he hated going for the kill when his prey was staring straight at him and aware of his actions. He had to wait for them to be focused on something else before he made any sort of move.. other wise the victim would have a better chance of escaping, and the kicking and screaming was to much of an annoyance.

Naruto just nodded, "So that's what it was. Lucky guess then huh? Sure as hell creeped me out though! Oh by the way, what's your name? I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" He held out his right hand waiting for acceptance along with a large grin plastered on his face.

The dark eyed male stared at the hand, not bothering to take it. And this blond kid called him weird? Wasn't he just scared of him a few minutes ago? Now he's trying to make friends? _I don't want a damn happy meal, whatever happened to the fear I saw in him at the mansion?_ He could only picture that the boy would probably just laugh like an idiot if he started biting at the sweet flesh of his neck.. Ugh ,This was a complete waste of a meal. In fact he wasn't even hungry anymore… a rat in the sewer sounded much more appealing.

Naruto's hand fell limp, and he sighed, "Guess your not really the talkative type huh? Heheh- H-Hey!"

The raven had already turned around and begun to stalk away.

Naruto followed quickly behind him, "Where are you going?"

"Home, now quit prying and go away." He made no eye contact with the curious pair of ocean blues beside him.

Naruto swerved in front of the other boy to keep him from walking any further, the ebony haired boy glared dangerously. "Wait don't leave me here alone!" He pleaded pathetically.

He really didn't want to be left alone in the dark_.. "In the park of all places. Where werewolves or even vampires could attack any moment!" _Yeahh.. Him and his creative imagination getting out of hand again.

He blew a sigh of irritancy, "Don't you have a home to go to? Now leave me-"

"Hey where'd you get that weird necklace?" Naruto attempted to stall. He poked at the trinket hanging around the others neck. It was the same crest of the fan that he saw on those paintings in the manor. _Were those his ancestors or something? _

He grabbed the necklace away from the blond and shoved it behind his shirt, "None of your business. Now will you get out of my way." …_Before I change my mind about killing you_.

"Only if you tell me your name! It's not fair that you get to know mine and all without me knowing your's. And it's going to bug me for the rest of the night!"

_..Persistent little moron.._"Sasuke. Uchiha, Sasuke." He stated monotonously then turned around once more to leave.

Naruto stared at the departing back of Sasuke. _Wonder why I've never seen him around here before? Weird..Hmm.. WOAH! _He snapped out of his thoughts as he took in the scenery ahead of him, "Hey Sasuke! Wait!"

The dark figure of the raven stopped and slowly turned his head to the side.

He noticed the blond vigorously pulling out that camera then look back up at him with a goofy grin, "Can you turn towards me and pose!"

Sasuke stared at the idiot through slit eyes, "…what?"

"Well see the full moon is positioned behind you perfectly, and it's giving off this amazing glow on you! Sort of eerie though, but it would make an awesome print!" He explained while fiddling with the camera then holding it up to his face.

"…." Sasuke inwardly groaned. All he wanted to do was hunt for a young _**quiet** _woman strolling alone in the dark of night and feast on her fear and blood. Though.. He never had his picture taken before. Curiosity ensued. Well maybe he would leave him alone after this, so why not. "Fine.."

Naruto nearly jumped with glee, "Okay now keep that emotionless expression on and look at the camera!" He began to search around for the perfect angle while Sasuke stood waiting.

Once he was satisfied with the positioning after a few moments Naruto began to chuckle lightly, camera still glued to his face.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke asked annoyed.

"Nothing, it's just, with the whole scenery and you all pale and clad in black.. You kinda remind me of like.. I dunno a vampire or something!" He laughed a little more.

The ebony haired boy mentally smirked. _Humans.. Really are idiots._

"Okay ready!"

A bright flash lit up the small area of the park.

The raven's eyes widened and his pupils narrowed at the light. He covered his burning eyes quickly with his hands and hissed at the pain. _Agghh! What the hell kind of device was that! It fucking burns! _If he knew it had anything to do with light then he would've reconsidered. Human's are inventing all new sorts of torturing devices now aren't they? Evil bastards.

Naruto fiddled with the flash button, "Sorry bout that, the flash can be a little blinding sometimes…" His cerulean eyes trailed back up to find Sasuke ..long gone.

He glanced from left to right but saw nothing but the darkness of the park on either side. He narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself, "Don't say goodbye or nothing.."

Naruto sighed and began to make his way towards the parks exit, might as well try to drag himself home before he collapsed into a deep slumber somewhere in the park. Still, he couldn't help but let his mind wonder about this onyx eyed fellow called Sasuke. _Hmm he must be some sort of anti-social goth or something.. I wonder if he lives in that huge house all by himself? Ah well, maybe we'll meet again someday, I'll ask him then. He really isn't as scary as I thought him to be, although earlier when he glared at me it kinda look like eheh.. Like wanted to eat me or something! Haha… _

* * *

Naruto silently opened the door to his apartment, trying not to make any sort of noise that would possibly wake Iruka, his guardian, from his slumber. He slowly shut the door behind him and tip toed to his bedroom, _be_ _silent as a mouse. _

He sighed once he entered his room and siffled an eye watering yawn that. But he didnt was to sleep just yet, rather he quickly went to his computer, curious to see how all the photos of tonight's events had turned out. He connected the camera to the computer and waited patiently for them to load, while lightly strumming his fingertips on the desk.

Once all loaded he began examining them all. The first set consisted of pictures from before he entered the house. Which were merely photo's of himself just goofing off as usual. Then the photo's of the bedroom in the manor. The only room he got to take pictures of.. Kiba was going to win the bet now since he hadn't taken pictures of every room..

"Well they did turn out pretty cool though." He admitted, they were a little dark and scary looking but still nicely done.

"Ah the last one should be the one I took of that Sasuke guy. I bet it turned out amazing with that awesome background!" It would also be a pretty good seller to the ladies at school to heh! He eagerly right clicked to view the next picture.

"What.. The.."

He stared blankly at the photo in front of him.

It had everything. A beautiful moon, a background of dark eerie tree's, glowing green grass, the only thing missing in the perfect picture was.. Sasuke.

"_No way! I had him perfectly centered in front of the moon!" _He began to absently tug at his blond locks in confusion, "It's .. Impossible!" He squeaked, and quickly hushed himself. Didn't want to wake Iruka up now.

He examined it once more. He did however notice that there was a distinct spot in the middle where there was a slight blur in the photo. Not to noticeable but.. It was there. It had to be a glitch right? He closed his eyes then leaned back in his seat and whispered, "… there's just.. No way."

* * *

Mmkay so thats it for this chapter! Okay so im not sure whether or not a vampire would show up in a picture or not (not like anyone would know) but i figure if they dont have a reflection then why not be unable to be shown in photos as well eh? Till next time! 

-CYa'S- Review my pretties...


	4. Vampire's Melody

Meg: Sorry bout the extremely late update guys. And sorry for any grammar errors or missplellings, i'll do a recheck later. But no matter! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Four:**

**Vampire's Melody**

* * *

"_Naaarrruutttooo…"_

_-_

_Darkness._

_-_

_Whispers._

_-_

_Rattling._

_-_

**Silence.**

**-**

"_Who.. who's there?" _

_Hazy blue eyes frantically searched the pitch black room. Panicking ensued as he tried to figure out exactly where he was. He squinted his eyes but no avail, he couldn't even see the hand he was now frantically waving an inch away from his face, it was so dark. _

"_Where am I..?" _

_The wooden floor began to creak, long and slow eerie screeches, as if someone were stepping closer. There was another being in the room with him.. A strange feeling made him doubt if it was even human. His heart began to pound heavily against his chest, there was a disgusting thick aura hanging like a black cloud above his head. And the smell.. The musky scent of a metallic substance burned through his nostrils._

_He wanted to escape but his body felt weak and heavy, it was like an invisible weight was holding him down. His feet wouldn't allow him to move, no matter how many times he furiously shifted and budged. And as he continued to listen to the ascending footsteps that made him flinch with every creak the floor made, an overbearing feeling came over him.. _

_Fear._

_It was slowly enveloping his being as his stood in the area of obscurity. Something was watching him, he could feel it. This thing….. Every few seconds he would catch a flicker of two glowing red orbs aligned in an even distance, then with a blink of an eye, they disappeared into the darkness. Someone was there, he knew it, this sinful being was taking the pleasure of taunting him, and testing his sanity. Waiting for him to foolishly _try _and run. _

_Whispers.. Muttering.. Began to fill his thoughts. Each hissing word repeating one another in a softer echo. 'NaaarutoooNaaaaruto, comeherecomehere, we wont huuurtt yooouuu youu you..' _

_Sniggers and laughter bounced off the shadowed walls. A wicked sort of cackling that sent chills throughout his entire body. _

_He sheltered his ears desperately with heavy trembling hands, "Stop it! Shut up!" He cried out._

"_Are you afraaaaiiiiddd…?" A raspy, shallow whisper coaxed. _

_The blood in his veins immediately became liquid ice when he felt a cold hand slide up under the back of his shirt, trailing sharp, icy fingertips slowly up his spine. A dark chuckle emitted from behind him, "Suuuch an innnnocent little boy.."_

"_No.." He pleaded and tried to escape from the touch before a strong arm snaked around his waist, forcefully pressing his back against the cold body. _

"_No… let go!" He whimpered attempting to wriggle himself free from the strangers grasp. But no amount of struggle could help him pry away from the suffocating embrace. _

_An icy breath caressed the dip of his neck, followed by a husky chuckle, "Shhhh.. It will only hurt for a second.." _

_A moist tongue trailed from the nape of the neck to his pulse._

"_Nngg-No.."_

_He gasped when he suddenly felt a sharp prick at his flesh.. piercing it.. sinking deeper and deeper_

_-_

"NOOOOOO!!!" Naruto shrieked, shooting his head upward and panting heavily as a break of cold sweat streamed down his temple. He frantically glanced from side to side, finding himself safe in his little blue painted room where small beams of morning sunlight broke through the parted blinds of the window. He then let out a deep ragged sigh, _"Just.. Just a dream.." _

The blond winced and began to rub his cheek, it was numb and he could feel a deep impression in the skin. It felt as if he had been sleeping on a rock or something!

He blinked, sleep still lingering in his eyes as he stared at the blank screen ahead of him for ten seconds before the gears finally started rotating in his head.

"Great I fell asleep at my computer desk," Naruto grumbled, voice slightly shaky from the previous nightmare. He wiped away the puddle of drool on his keyboard that had formed during his slumber.

The blond teen stood up and walked towards his dresser to change into a new pair of clothes, realizing he had forgotten to change out of his dirty ones from last night.

Naruto threw on a plain, slightly loose black tee shirt and a pair of pale orange cargos. He sighed as he kicked the drawer back in and lazily slumped back onto his bed, staring blankly at the crème carpeted floor beneath his feet, which was barely even visible thanks to the assortment of both clean and dirty laundry scattered across it.

The icy feeling on his back was still fresh in his mind. That alone made his heart beat faster. And those whispers.. taunting and terrifying. It was one of those dreams that felt a little too real for comfort. He hadn't had a nightmare that intense since.. _Ever_.

He covered his face with his still sparsely quivering hands and slowly dragged them down to his chin, "What a nightmare.. Where the hell did that come from?"

Shaking his head he began to wrack his mess of blond locks with both hands furiously, trying to force himself to calm. _"Arggh get over it! It was just a dream!" _Really he needed to stop freaking out over stupid insignificant things, it was becoming a bad habit. He wouldn't be surprised if he was sent to the hospital with an erupted ulcer one of these days.

Though he did wonder if the nightmare had formed on the cause from being constantly frightened every five minutes that night.

Automatically his glazed eyes slowly trailed back towards his computer screen. The monitor was in sleep mode, the black screen hiding the photos he had been so intently examining that night.

"Maybe.." Naruto stood up and slowly made his way towards the computer, "..I was imagining it all..?"

He eagerly sat in front of the screen and shook the mouse to wake the monitor. Once turned on he double clicked the new file of pictures he had added and began to scan through them.

After a few minutes of browsing he found it. Disappointment was written clearly on his face as he reexamined the photo. "Yep.. Just a damn blur." He heaved a sigh, "_and it was such a perfect scenery too! Damnit!" _How on earth, out of all the other pictures he'd taken, did this one manage to mess up? Was it really possible for a camera to remove a single object from the picture on its own? Either that or he had rotten luck.

Naruto began to wrack his head, "_Not cool! _Not _cool!" _His teacher would've _praised_ him from taking such a brilliant work of art! He even had to admit that that strange ghostly looking Sasuke guy was handsome enough for girls to go gaga over. He wondered how many hundreds of pictures he could've sold to the female population of this town? He could've been filthy rich!

Well over exaggerating a little..

Of course he _would've_ had to request permission from the guy _first_, but hunting him down to ask allowance to sell his face would've been _awkward_ since he hardly even _knew_ the guy_…_ and this was getting a little of topicsince the picture was already ruined _anyway_- so it didn't even matter!

He just settled with letting out a long, agonizing groan that would've lasted for hours if it hadn't been interrupted..

"Naruto! Breakfast is ready!" A distant voice called from the room beyond his.

"Coming!" Naruto yelled back, exiting off the picture before scrambling to his feet and practically leaping out of his room. All previous events and exhaustion had made him extremely hungry and he was prepared to scarf down his breakfast like a nearly famished animal.

Waltzing towards the kitchen with a grin slapped on his face, he greedily inhaled the delicious scent of fresh coffee that wafted throughout the decent sized apartment.

"Ohayo Iruka!" He cheerfully greeted his guardian while taking a seat on a stool in front of the breakfast bar. Said guardian was standing in front of the stove with his back turned and a spatula in hand. "I'm starving! What'dja make?"

The brunette craned his neck over his shoulder and flashed a sincere smile, "Pancakes." He said, pouring the light brown batter into the frying pan.

Naruto slapped a hand on the counter in excitement, and in less than two seconds had sloppily tied a white napkin around his neck and a fork and knife appeared in hand, "Alright! I love pancak-!"

"Naruto." Iruka cut off firmly. The sudden change in tone caught the blond boy by surprise.

"Y-yes?" He asked innocently, setting the silverware down on the counter with a light 'clank.'

_Uh oh.. That's the 'your in deep shit' tone he's using.._

Iruka turned to face the blond boy, setting the spatula on the counter then crossing arms over his lean chest. At that point Naruto tried to refrain from sniggering, Iruka was finally wearing the apron he had given him for his birthday a few days ago. In red it wrote 'kiss the cook' on the front patch, (_it was an inside joke... _)Naruto quickly pulled his attention back towards Iruka's serious demeanor.

"Why did you come home in the middle of the night? I thought you were sleeping over at Kiba's?"

Naruto blanched, "Wha-What?" Crap if he found out what he was doing.. _Grounded for life!!_

Iruka sighed, with that look Naruto was already caught guilty and he hadn't even spilled yet. "I heard you come in last night. I also heard you typing on that computer of yours."

"Oh?.. Um eheh.. I..uh" What was he supposed to say? Talk about how he broke into someone's house and ran around the neighborhood screaming like a girl in the middle of the night possibly waking up the whole neighborhood? Nooo.. Iruka would never let him out of his line of sight again, or possibly even see the light of day for that matter.

"So where were you then?" The brunette continued to prod.

Naruto sat silently for a moment while his guardian waited patiently for an explanation.

He swallowed hard before speaking, it was hard making up excuses right on the spot. "Well y-you see, yeah I was sleeping over but y'know Kiba he.. He snores like an animal! So I couldn't sleep very well, and.. And you know how much I love my beauty sleep Eh.. Ehhehhe..?" That had to be the lamest cover he could ever come up with, but Iruka was one of the most gullible men on the face of the earth. You could tell him the sky was falling and he'd dive under the dining table with his hands over his head.

Well maybe not that gullible.

The scarred man simply nodded before turning back around to flip the breakfast cakes whilst he continued to speak simply, "Of course. So that's why you chose the computer desk as the perfect place for your beauty sleep right?"

"Yea- ! _No.. _I uh decided to get some pictures developed since the walk from Kiba's house to here totally made me.. not.. so. tired. anymore…" Naruto's brows knitted together tracing back to what he just said.. He was already starting to confuse himself today and it was only nine in the morning!

Naruto watched as his guardian flopped a stack of three fluffy pancakes onto a plate.

He turned around giving the blond boy a concerned look, "That's a long walk from his neighborhood Naruto, and in the middle of the night? Who knows what kind of weirdo's are lurking around out there."

Funny how an image of the mysterious raven flashed through his mind. Naruto's pale blue eyes trailed downward and he began to mumble mostly to himself, "Uh.. Em yeah.. Weirdo's.."

Iruka walked over to the teen and placed the plate of food in front of him. "Well, don't do that again alright? Next time I find out you were out by yourself at night you wont get off so easily, I hate worrying about you."

"Yes mother." Naruto drawled in exasperation.

Iruka shook his head with an eye roll and smiled. He walked back into the small kitchen and cleaned up while Naruto began to inhale the pancakes and at the same time incoherently babbled something about how a stupid squirrel cost him his previous camera and now he was stuck with a cheap looking one that couldn't take pictures properly and didn't even have a video recorder.

The brunette man finished drying his hands with a cloth then tossed the apron on the back of a chair and grabbed his car key's that were laying on the counter, "Alright I'm off to work then, don't do anything stupid." He ruffled Naruto's blond head before heading for the doorway while humming a merry tune and twirling his keys with one finger.

"Good bye to you too." Naruto mumbled to his guardians back with a raised brow and curious look adorning his face. He began to wonder, _since when did Iruka ever look pleased and cheerful before going to work?_

* * *

"Rrgh, nothing on.." 

After an hour of furiously pressing buttons on the remote Naruto finally decided that he didn't even want to watch TV. He slumped deeper into the couch and tossed the abused remote aside. _I'm bored.. _He began to slowly drift off into random thoughts when a shrill of the telephone ringing pulled him away from lala land.

He jumped up from the couch and headed for the cordless phone that was laying on the dining table and picked it up, answering in an apathetic tone, "Hello?"

"_Hey blondie catch any ghosts on film last night?"_

The blond sighed, "No Kiba."

"_Just as I thought, you chickened out huh?! Guess I win!" _Kiba's laughter echoed through the other line.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched and he slammed a fist on the table, not being one to control his temper, "_NO_! I got the pictures! They.. Just need to be developed." Great not only did he lie to his own guardian but now he was lying to one of his best friends, boy was he on a roll. He slowly took a seat back on the couch, rubbing his temples while he listened to his dog loving friend blab on the other line.

"_Well, then we'll see those pictures on Monday. Hey I tried calling your cell a few minutes ago, why didn't you answer it? I thought you always had that damn thing glued to your pants."_

Naruto sat thoughtfully for a moment, knowing he should've heard the ring tone seeing as he always kept the volume on ear-blasting high. He began to pat at his pant pockets then frowned, _hm not on me. Where the heck did I put it? _Iruka was gonna kill him if he lost the thing. _lets see.. I had it with me yesterday.. After school… put it in my ..bag.. _After a few moments of tracing back and ignoring Kiba's annoyed calls form the other line, he suddenly stiffened as realization hit him like a tidal wave.

"….SHIIIT!"

Kiba made a screwed up face as he yanked the phone away from his abused ear and was on the verge of a heart attack from the sudden blood curdling shriek. Once he recovered to his senses, which only took about two seconds, he quickly connected the phone back to his ear and shouted back to the idiot in anger and confusion, "What the hell?! Don't scream in my ear like that! What's wrong with you?!"

Naruto gripped the phone and spoke hastily under a single breath, "Uh nothing sorry Kiba, Igottagonow BYE!"

A demanding yell was heard on the other line before he quickly hung up and jumped to his feet.

He had left the phone in his school bag.

The same, one and only school bag that he carelessly placed and abandoned in one of the hundred hallways of the manor he raided last night.

"CRAAAAP!"

He tried to refrain from ripping out his golden locks of hair. What was he going to do? He couldn't just waltz back into the mansion he broke into and demand the owner to return his belongings! Well he _could_, but he just couldn't find the nerve to do so. Guilt was one thing but facing that gothic guy after breaking into his house was another.

… but he still needed that cell phone back!!

"Not only do I have my damn phone to worry about but there's also the stupid project to finish _and_ that bet to win!" Naruto began to pace around the room becoming increasingly nervous as he tried to figure out how to solve all these inconvenient problems.

_I also have to do research on the house too.. Damnit I should've picked an easier place! One that isn't occupied by a member of the Adams family… _At that last thought he stopped his pacing for a moment and began to scratch the back of his head, thinking, how many rude names has he given the stranger already? He didn't even know a single thing about the man and he already dubbed him weirdo, goth and whatever else. He wasn't really one to support name calling or stereotyping either, but there was just something about the guy that sent off weird vibes.

"Hm, maybe I'm judging that guy, Sasuke or whatever, too much.." He could've been just your average everyday teenager for all he knew. "I guess i'll just go back, ask politely for my stuff and…"

His eyes widened and the light bulb above his head (which was rarely ever used) lit up with a few flickers here and there as he suddenly thought of something that would possibly solve both his project and bet problem, "Hey.. Maybe, if I ask_ very politely_, he'll let me do my project on his house!"

(Optimism was his weak point..)

Simple, if he apologized nicely for intruding the home he might let him continue the project. Not only that but maybe he wouldn't mind giving him a historical background on the house without having to do any research himself.. Why the bloody hell didn't he think of this before?

"Okay!" He shot a fist all to confidently in the air before pulling on his shoes, disconnecting his rugged camera from the computer and finally exiting the apartment all in less than two minutes.

(And over confidence will one day be the death of him..)

* * *

It was nice day outside. Warm and sunny with thin sheets of white clouds streaking across the cerulean sky. Naruto decided the weather was nice enough for him to ride his bike to his destination instead of taking the long hours walk. The manor was all the way on the other side of town where the older buildings were still standing from back when the village was first built, a long time ago. Some of the older parts of town could be dated back two hundred years from now, but most of the buildings had been renovated and new ones shot up instantly. 

Yes the village did have a historical background to it, it even had a few crazy stories and folktales that have been passed down from generations, grandparents telling their grandchildren revised versions of a more horrific tale from the villages past. Naruto only knew bits and pieces of a few stories and none of them were what he would consider 'happily ever after' fairytales. It was said there was a time where many of the village's people were hung by the noose, accused of witchcraft or vampirism. Of course they couldn't kill a vampire just by hanging him, they would tie them to a crucifix and wait until dawn were the sun would rise and burn their flesh into ashy residue.

But of course it was all nonsense, Naruto didn't believe that there were really any witches or vampires, they were just wrongfully _accused _with stupid senseless "proof" because people back then were naïve enough to believe such mythical nonsense.

Naruto whizzed past pedestrians on the sidewalks and crossed the street where he soon sped through the open gated entrance of the lush green park, it being the shortest rout to the other side of town.

The park was definitely much more pleasant to be around during the day then at the dead of night, he silently admitted. The blond teen pedaled faster when he came to a slope, passing couples walking their dogs and the early morning joggers. Pink flowers sailed away from the Sakura trees and with the cool breeze that caressed his smooth tan face. With the speed he was going at the irritation of the wind whipping at his face caused his eyes to slightly water in response.

At the moment he wasn't even worried about his current mission, he was suddenly to relaxed to do so, maybe cause it was such a refreshing day? He automatically inhaled the sweet fresh air while a grin spread across his face.

* * *

After only a half an hour of nonstop pedaling, and still limitless energy to burn, he arrived at the iron gated entrance of the manor house. He jumped off the bike and leaned it against the gate, not bothering to lock it since there was no need to worry about anyone stealing it. Barely anyone lived in these old neighborhoods anyway. Save for a few old folks and.. Sasuke. 

Naruto sighed as he once again pushed open the iron black gate with a slight screech and made his way up the pebbled path, past the creepy looking fountain in the courtyard (he didn't spare a glance at the smiling angelic statue) and stopped in front of the wooden porch steps. "At least it's light outside.. Makes me feel a little more comfortable." He stated as he inhaled another breath and took cautious steps up towards the large arched door.

Now knowing that the home was occupied, he respectively knocked at the door, seeing as there was no sort of doorbell.

No answer.

"What the hell? I thought he lived here?" Naruto puffed his cheeks much like a blowfish, and a little annoyed, _Maybe he went out somewhere? _… well actually he didn't really look like the type that would go out shopping early in the morning. In fact it really didn't look like he got out at all.. With the freaky black robes and all.

"Eh, one more try.." He knocked again with a little more force in his fist, hoping to get a response this time, and for some reason a part of him really didn't want to get an answer.

He flinched when the door slowly creaked open, with no sign of a jiggling from the door knob or the sound of the lock turning with the normal 'click.'

"uh..Hello?" Biting the fleshy inside of his cheek, Naruto pushed the door further open and peered inside and around it, not surprised to find absolutely no one behind the towering door. He swallowed the bothersome lump that formed in his throat, "hm.. Weird."

Putting that all aside, he stepped fully into the familiar spacious foyer. So here he was intruding once again, _No I'm not intruding.. I just want my stuff. _Reason enough right?

Naruto's lips thinned as he examined the place once again, thick cobwebs still sticking to every corner, stainless white cloth draped over the few furniture that was present, and within the tiny beams of light that broke through the curtain covered windows he could see the particles of dust clearly floating around. "Geez you would never know that someone actually lives here. Hasn't the guy ever heard of spring cleaning?"

His nose twitched from the invasion of dust particles and he managed to hold back the explosion of a sneeze. _Man and I thought my room was dirty. _He would've accepted the dirt if the place hadn't been lived in for years ..but someone really actually _lived_ in this?!

Naruto walked up to the wide staircase that split into the east and west wing of the manor. He grasped the sturdy, delicately carved, wooden railing and called from the bottom of the staircase with the other hand cupping the corner of his mouth for increased volume, "Hellooo? Heellloooo anyone home?"

His hand slipped from the railing and he called into a different direction, "Sasuke are you here?!" Well of course he had to be if his door was wide open! Any kind of crazy person could easily slip in this house and.._actually i think he probably doesnt care cuz he knows he can scare the living daylights out of any intruder. And i would know through personal experience.._

Naruto sighed and headed towards the many archways that led to different hallways and rooms of the home, "Wow it looks a lot bigger in daylight… doesn't make it any less creepy though.."

Well if the mysterious raven occupant wasn't here then he might as well just grab his stuff and ask another time. But there was only one problem, "Crap which hall did I leave it in?!"

He whipped his head from one hallway opening to another, all of them looking the same.. He couldn't remember which one he traveled through first.

Of all the days his memory chose to defy him.. Not that it ever worked properly anyway.

"Ugh whatever.. I guess I'll just start in this one," He muttered as he entered one of the corridors. He just hoped he wouldn't get lost or get another surprise greeting from Sasuke again.

* * *

After what Naruto claimed to be a half an hour of aimless walking he was already on the verge of tearing his hair out, "Does this hallway ever END?!" 

He had been roaming around not bother to check behind any doors since he knew for sure that he left his bag laying out in one of the corridors. But this one was endless! This couldn't have been the area he explored last night because quite frankly it wasn't as long as this one.

The blond was just about to give up and turn back around when something stopped him. A sound that quickly caught his attention. No more like a melody? It was almost faint..

Curiosity ensued.. Maybe someone was really home? Naruto delayed the thoughts of turning back and continued down the hall following the sounds, them getting louder with every few steps he silently took.

A few moment later the melodic sonance became clear enough to decipher what it was coming from, "A ..piano?" The soft tune was beautiful and almost exotic, Naruto almost felt as if it were luring him.

He followed the music until he finally stopped in front a door to his left that was left wide open and inviting. The blond debated with his inner conscience before he decided to enter the room.

He only took two steps inside before he froze in place. In the dead center of the large room, which was at least four times bigger than the bedroom he saw, was a black grand piano and sitting in front of it with his back facing Naruto was the figure clad in that familiar long black cloak.

The room was dim, save for a few small wall lamps brimming with yellow light, the blood red drapes completely blocked any spec of sunlight from touching the room.

Naruto didn't even bother to think of whether or not he was noticed, he simply watched as the young man's long delicate fingers gracefully danced across the black and white keys, leaving the blond almost in a trance.

Still gliding his fingers across the instrument, a monotonous voice interrupted between the soft musical notes, "Invite yourself in again? You people have no manners do you?" A scoff was drowned within the melody.

For a breif moment it sounded as if he was actually expecting Naruto to arrive way before the blond even decided to come.

Naruto snapped out of his daze, stumbling backwards and sloppily regaining his balance, "Uwah! Oh S-Sorry! I was j-just wanting to get my stuff that I left, y'know my school bag.. That's all." Damn why was he stuttering!!

The raven didn't answer, just continued playing the classical music.

Naruto shifted his feet, he didn't really fancy being ignored. He cleared his throat and spoke loud enough over the music, "Well..Do you know where it is?"

"Possibly."

A blond eyebrow twitched, "Well can I have it?" He asked a little annoyed.

The music stopped all at once.

Sasuke slid his hands away from the piano, and spoke with his back, which was in a very straight posture, still facing the other boy, "Yes, but that's not all you really want is it?"

The blond teen blinked and furrowed his brows slightly in bafflement, "What?"

The raven stood up, rounded the piano seat and faced the still confused boy with a stoic expression. Naruto felt his vocal cords abandon him that moment. Was it really that possible for a person's emotions to be so completely unreadable? Well there was already a difference he found between them, Naruto practically wore his emotions on his sleeve, if the dumbfounded look he was giving now was any indication.

Without realizing it the blond found the taller raven already standing a foot away from him. He must've been one of those quick and silent guys, either that or Naruto lacked attention span.. We'll go with the latter.

That pale and emotionless face, wasn't glowing like it was that night in the moons graceful light, but still looked as pure as ivory. Sasuke stated in the same tone, "I said. That's not all you wanted. Was it?"

The blond swallowed hard, _Get a grip Naruto_, he tried to coax himself. He shook his head to rid of his current state of gawking like an idiot and finally found his voice, and feeling especially relieved that it didn't come out in pathetic stutters, "Oh, um yeah.. Actually I was wondering if um.. If I could actually do my photography project on your home? I mean I'm really sorry for breaking in first and all, I didn't kn-!"

"Fine."

His blue eyes widened slightly in surprise and a few seconds later a goofy sort of grin spread across his features, "Oh?.. Well okay.. Cool! But are you sure its alright?"

The Uchiha nodded once, "Yes. But first.." His voice suddenly became firm, and coal eyes narrowed.

Naruto twitched slightly.. He could've swore that he just saw a flash of red flicker in those deep obsidian orbs.

"I'm going to have to lay down some rules."

* * *

Meg: Whheeeww.. that was a long chapter eh? sorry if it was boring or anything, the real action starts next chapter! ( and to all you pervs out there, not _that_ kinda 'action'..) XD ehem, sorry couldnt help it lol. anyways review 


	5. Reminding

Oh my God… I actually updated. (clouds part, a bright light beams down and angels begin to sing) and its niiiccee and looong.

Well..to me its long..

Anyway on with the show!

* * *

**-C**hapter **F**ive-

**.::R**eminding

* * *

He wasn't the type to be so openly inviting _per say_, especially towards someone with a heartbeat and that deliciously warm, metallic substance flowing through within every inch of that lanky body. Thankfully he was raised a clean gentleman with limitless self-control. 

Although blood was a vital part of his very simple diet (and there being a meal that would tide him over for a few weeks, standing but a mere two feet away from him, tempting his hunger) he just so happened to be a very .._picky_ monster. Not just anyone's blood would do. He particularly fancied the blood of egoists and arrogance.. But if he was starving, nearly dying, or craving with blood lust then anyone at the moment would do. Or if he simply lost his temper and went on a killing rampage..

_Which only happened once about ninety-seven years ago. _He thought meekly.

But yes, a monster he was.. what else would he refer to his kind as other than this? And sometimes he would even weep inside, despising his nature and above all despising the one who created him. But that was another story for another time.

And not to mention he hated being around people -if it was for any other reason than feeding and/or killing them. But in all honesty he never liked killing, it was to messy.

Though surprisingly and for some strange, ungodly reason he had made an exception with this childlike human. Despite the loud, obnoxious, and reckless, yet happy-go-lucky attitude this person had, not to mention the strange taste in orange attire, there was also something else about the human boy. Even with all those qualities which would normally annoy him to the burning pits of hell, interestingly enough he didn't have any sort of motivation or desire to kill him ever since he returned the camera… vampire blinding device.

Sure he had been stark raving mad after nearly having his eyes burned out of the sockets, but of course they healed as quick as the pain had come. Instead of hunting the blond down and gauging out his own precious blue eyes out in turn, he simply found the boys ignorance and thick headedness shockingly interesting. It reminded him of something, yet he couldn't put his finger on it at the moment.

Strange..

There was something abnormally different about this person that he couldn't compare to other victims. It wasn't appearance or attitude-wise.. It was the abnormal, almost consuming, bright red aura he emitted, and he had spent the whole night wondering about it. Therefore he decided to let the kid hang around so he could figure him out.

He hadn't been completely fascinated with human behavior in quite a while, so why not observe now?

"_It could turn out to be quite an experience, I haven't _**properly**_ acquainted myself with a human in nearly a hundred years…" _

* * *

The blond teen stared awkwardly at the other who stood a few inches above his height. "Rules?" He repeated slowly. A lifted eyebrow followed in question. 

Sasuke nodded, "Yes… I cant have you running around doing whatever you please.. right?"

It seemed fair enough, it was quite an antiquated house after all, therefore he would respect whatever the owner wished. "Well alright then it's your house! Lets hear 'em."

Clearing his throat he stated the first rule in a very prominent voice to show the obvious importance of obeying it, "One, Don't pull back any of the curtains, I only have them open during the night." He said whilst making an automatic hand gesture towards the blood silk curtains that were tightly closed together against the large arched windows.

"Why-"

"Don't _question_ just comply." Naruto snapped his mouth shut and his lips thinned, giving the taller male an annoyed look, _what kind of person only opens the curtains at night..? Weeiirrdd. _And it kind of made him wonder a bit.. Closed curtains.. Dim lit rooms.. Roaming around at night.. Clad in black… did he have sensitive eyes or-

"Don't touch anything that looks valuable or breakable, you seem to be the clumsy, ditzy type. And don't bother me, if you have any questions or problems then I will most likely not care so keep them to yourself. Also, you can easily get lost in this house, and if you do don't start crying or yelling, I have sensitive hearing so I don't need the ruckus."

Well if he didn't sound like the _biggest_ bastard ever…

Naruto narrowed his eyes and mumbled to himself, "I don't cry.."

"Last and probably the most important of all, the west wing is off limits.. If I catch you wandering around there, well," There appeared that creepy smirk once again, Naruto wondered for a brief moment if that was as close to a smile as he could get, "lets just say the consequences wont be clean.."

Naruto swallowed hard, feeling his mouth begin to dry, yet curiosity always tugged him by the leash, "What's in the west wing?"

The Uchiha sighed, "_That_ would be none of your business."

The blond teens brow raised slightly. Apparently there was something in that area of the house that Sasuke didn't want him to see… _what is he hiding bodies up there or something? _Naruto attempted to mentally laugh but for some reason the more he hung around this guy the less humor he could produce. For all he knew there really could've been bodies up there. Rotting putrid corpses probably sitting up there for years..

He wasn't finished yet.

"One more thing, if you come across a door with a red ribbon tied around the knob. Please do _not_ enter that room, its marked for private purposes. Some of the rooms may be locked, that may be for good reasons so don't try and pry them open if curiosity gets the better of you. And if you hear any sounds, feel any cold drafts or find things suddenly rearranged then don't be alarmed, this house is as haunted as hell, but nothing will hurt you. Well.. Just _stay away _from the basement. That is all." It was amazing how he could say so much and not need to inhale a load of oxygen afterwards. A good quality for politics..

"…………..."

Naruto stared owlishly at the raven for a few seconds, thoroughly processing the information, before his face completely blanched and then like a ticking bomb lodged in his brain, his mind detonated. _"HAUNTED__$#&$&!?!!?__" _

It took him a good sixty seconds to recover.

The raven stared blankly at the blond boy, "Are you alright? You looked like you went brain dead for a minute." Sasuke's coal eyes then lit up and he held back a persisting smirk of amusement, "_Afraid of ghosts are we?… well well this should be eventful.."_

Naruto shook his head frantically, "..N-nno no, I- I am fuhfine.." He lied. He cleared the unmanly squeakiness from his voice and raked a quivering hand quickly through his thick locks of blond, trying to look as cool and calm as that blasted Sasuke always did.

"So then you uh.. don't live by your lonesome after all _eh_?" Unfortunately the hitch came back at the end of the sentence, the pitch was higher then a freaking fiver year old girl's, and painfully obvious it was. Flushing, he bit down hard on his lip and looked away, hoping it went by unnoticed, which he doubted since apparently this guy had _phenomenal _hearing. What a scar on his ego it would be if this suave emotionless guy began to suddenly laugh maniacally at his fear of the ravens own house.

..Well he could always use late puberty as an excuse..

Thankfully there was no comment on it, that or it was just blatantly ignored. Sasuke simply turned around and began walking towards a wall, covered with many old painted portraits, with both hands properly folded behind his back while he spoke, "Many residents have died in this manor the past few hundred years it's been standing. Their spirits naturally linger here, still emotionally bound to this world."

_Wonderful.._

The sound of a door, he wasn't sure which one, neither did he care, began to creak open causing Naruto to tremble and whip his head back.

Blue eyes wildly searched every inch of the room, and Naruto began to rub his forearms that apparently had formed about a million Goosebumps, "Haunted huh.."

"Yes." He answered simply, still staring at the portraits.

"It would uh.. _bother.._ most people.."

The Uchiha turned swiftly on his heel, brushing fingertips against the edge of a side table that held a gray statue head with the face of an intelligent looking man, and glanced up at his visitor. "Well I assure you I am not most people. So run along then." He said with a flick of the wrist.

Naruto was about to open his mouth and ask if he could possibly have a tour, but it would seem to obvious that he was frightened and didn't want to be alone. So he decided to suck it up like a real man and do it alone.

The blue eyed boy nodded before leaving the room with a quick glance behind, Sasuke still stood staring at a portrait of a person who, Naruto failed to notice, seemingly resembled its owner.

* * *

Once again Naruto found himself standing, _alone,_ in the main foyer surrounded in a circle of many open hallways and the grand staircase. 

"Now.. Where should I start.."

Because every hallway looked identical, it was indeed going to be a complicating day. Kiba expected a few pictures from each room. Yet three problems had occurred to him.

One: there had to be at least a hundred rooms on both floors. Even if he left out a few rooms Kiba would never know, but stubborn ole' Naruto was a man of his word and would fulfill any challenge to completion.

Two: The West Wing was apparently off limits so there would be no photography up there.. And he'd have to live every waking moment wondering what the hell was stored in that blasted area…including the many curious locked rooms.

And Three: The bet was that he'd be taking these pictures at NIGHT. And it would kill the whole point of the challenge of bravery if he did it during the day.

Now that he thought about it he hadn't exactly told his friends that someone actually lived in the house.. He wondered if he told them then maybe the whole bet thing would be simply forgotten? After all the prize was JUST ramen..

"I think I'll just take the pictures now for my project. A week of free ramen isn't worth risking my grade.." Naruto ran his tongue against dry lips and swallowed.. Was he really considering giving up ramen? FREE ramen?!

He heaved a sigh and set off into a random corridor with his camera dangling around his neck, continuously whipping his head back as paranoia ensued. He couldn't tell if it was his own footsteps or someone else's following behind.. Was he scaring himself?.. Or maybe the owner was just trying to mess with his head for some sort of sick entertainment?

Every step he took as he entered a corridor paved with dusty hardwood flooring and each screech and cry the floor made as his foot connected with the wood, it almost sounded as if the floor was speaking. _Leave.. stay away…stop.. Die.. ?? _No matter how softly he tried to walk, the wood continued to cry.

_Oh great the floor hates me.._

Naruto frantically shook the idiotic thoughts out of his mind, "No no! It's just all in my head!"

He growled as it continuously screeched what sounded like a string threats beneath him, and out of brash impulse Naruto finally landed a hard, full blown stomp onto the floor, "SHUT UP! STUPID DAMN FLOOR!"

A few stomps and colorful curses later, Naruto froze mid landing and slowly lowered his foot, gently setting it on the wooden floor which had stopped screeching three beatings ago. Everything was dead silent. Not even a single cricket chirp, and he could've sworn the house was chock full of 'em a while ago.

He stood there for a few moments with labored breathing and slowly began contemplating his actions. The hell? He just abused someone else's practically ancient floor.. he had to be going mad for sure now.

Naruto almost laughed as he stepped in front of a random door in the corridor, _Damn, what if I had put a hole in the floor? What would be my excuse? Oh, yeah uh your floor was basically saying fuck you and die so I started to beat the wood out of it. Sorry bout that.. the floor started it I swear. _

"Pfft whatever, now.. lets see what's behind door number one. Will it be the lair of skeletons, zombies or ghouls?" He wrapped a hand around the knob and did the turn and push routine. Unfortunately he didn't get any further at the 'push' part. The first door he managed to come upon in the labyrinth of corridors and it had to be locked. _What rotten luck.. _He rattled the knob a bit just incase the rusty old lock just so happened to accidentally break from decades of decay.

No avail.

Naruto sighed, "I have a feeling its gonna take days to photograph everything this house has to offer.. I knew I should've asked for a tour, me and my damn pride-"

"_Naruto!" _

He froze.

Every limb unconsciously tensed as a cold draft passed through the hallway. An odd musty scent quickly filled the air and infiltrated his olfactory senses as the shout of his name echoed through his ears.

"W-who's there?" His eyes darted at every direction. The wall lamps flickered slightly, and one at the end of the corridor flashed spasmodically before going out completely with a buzz.

"Narutooo!"

The cry was coming from behind him, he spun around on his heel a peered down the endless hall. The voice belonged to a female. That much he could surely make out.

_Was it a ..a ghost?? _He swallowed thickly. To follow or not to follow? That was the question..

Naruto stood thoughtfully for a moment then quickly turned back on his heel again and in a fast pace began to descend from where the screams where coming from. "Heeellll _No_.."

_Haunted as hell huh? Sorry Sasuke but the last thing I want is to come face to face with one of your ghost friends. _

"_NARUTO WAIT!" _The shrilling voice screeched a pleading cry.

He stopped dead in his track, a cold break of sweat trickling down his temple. _That voice…it couldn't be. _His heartbeat sped up,"…Sa-Sakura??."

_No why would she be here? It couldn't be her, she wouldn't know I was here! _Again Naruto whipped his head back towards the direction of the cries. Knowing it had to be some sort of trick.. Or even a trap! But Sasuke didn't seem the type to pull pranks in his own territory.. _Sakura.. I never told her I was doing my project here tho- _His eyes flickeredin possible realization_, "_Unless.. Kiba told her!!"

_Of course Kiba would with that big mouth of his! Maybe she came to check on me after the way I acted on the phone with Kiba this morning.. _At that thought there was no time to waste, quick at coming to conclusions he began to sprint down the hall, whether it was real or not he had to be sure that his friend wasn't in any sort of predicament.

* * *

Sasuke snapped a black hardcover book shut and set it on the side table, the expression on his face showing slight irritation. He took in a long deep breath then exaled. 

"Honestly.. How could a single blond idiot cause so much ruckus.. I cant possibly concentrate with all that banging." He said slowly while rubbing his temples.

He sighed while removing his rectangular reading glasses and stood up from the red-ish brown leather chair, setting the specs gently on the same black book he had attempted to read a while ago.

"What a mistake sending him off on his own.." He muttered and began to exit the parlor before stopping shortly to stifle a yawn and then glance at the grandfather clock standing in the corner of the dim room. _1:46 _

_Tch...I should be sleeping at this time._

* * *

"What the _hell_…." 

Naruto had been running and running continuously following the voice of Sakura. He made many turns, possibly a few circles too, and he already felt as if he were in some sort of labyrinth. The mansion was a hell of a lot bigger on the inside that was certain. The cries of his friend had even led him up a different staircase (not the grand one) and through many other halls until he finally stopped in front of a door where he could hear her voice perfectly from behind it.

He didn't even know where he was located in the house anymore, that didn't matter at the moment.. And not once did he consider that it was strange to travel throughout a whole chunk of the manor to find the voice calling at this particular spot, at this particular strange door.

Naruto had been shakily examining said door for quite sometime now, and goosebumps had certainly begun to form across his flesh. _That's one helluva door.. It's freakier than the entrance. _

It was a little smaller than all the other doors, but that wasn't the hold up. It was the only all black door he had seen so far. It looked so medieval compared to the rest, with its thick bulky hinges, visible grey bolts decorating it and not to mention the abnormal silver lionhead right smack in the middle of it, showing its rusty fangs. Was it the..basement?? _No stupid basements arent located upstairs.._

"Naruto help me please! I'm s-so scared!" There were scratching sounds coming from the other side of the door as he heard his friends plea once more.

His mind acted on its own accord, forgetting about the oddness of the area he was in. "Hang on!" He carefully reached for the knob and grabbed it, unbeknownst to the towering shadow suddenly looming behind him.

Before he could even slightly turn the rigid knob, right beside his ear a breathy voice spoke hastily, _"What are __**you**__**doing **__here?"_

With a loud cry, the poor blond stumbled forward almost slamming against the door. _Oh God No no more surprises!! _He spun around expecting to see some sort of disfigured demon guardian of the crazy black door.

Instead …it was the ravenhead owner standing there in all his stoic glory. Naruto had froze in place with his mouth slightly ajar.

Silence.

Staring contest.

And more silence.

Once the blond finally snapped out of his stupefied state, he quickly felt anger boiling in the pit of his stomach and the embarrassment of falling for the same trap for the third time already. He flew his hands up in exasperation and yelled at the still unmoving raven, "Jeez! S-Sasuke-**teme** you scared the freaking crap out of me AGAIN!!"

Sasuke almost adorned, what seemed to be, a look of shock for a split second, "What-"

Naruto continued to complain, "Why the hell do you _Always_ have to sneak up behi-!"

"Shut up for a second!" Sasuke stepped closer, again practically looming over the smaller teenager, "What the heck did you just call me?"

Naruto backed a little further away, "Uhh… Sasuke…_teme_?" Was it offensive? Naruto narrowed his eyes, _Good.. _

Midnight eyes narrowed in turn, "_Why_?" It sounded more like a demand than a question.

Naruto raised a brow, why did he seem to care so much about a stupid little insult? Was he that sensitive? "Uhh.. I dunno it suits you? you do act like a creepy bastard! And I'm part Japanese, so I learned the word for it a while back.. Wait why? You gonna cry about it?" The blond stuck out his tongue childishly.

The Uchiha's eye twitched at that reaction, "No.. just Shut up.. What the hell are you doing here anyway, didn't I tell you to keep away from the west wing?"

He was in the west wing? It was a bit stranger looking part of the home that was for sure, well he hadn't seen any bodies yet... His blue eyes widened, "Oh Sakura!! I heard her voice she's trapped in here!" He quickly pointed towards the mysterious door.

"Your friend isn't in there."

"But she called my name she's she-!"

Sasuke sighed, "You really never stop shouting do you?" He made a gesture for Naruto to move aside, and then took the liberty of opening the door himself, "See.. it's a closet."

And a closet it was indeed. A few shelves topped with old boxes and a broom propped up in the left corner. Cobwebs clung in a vary of spots, but all in all, it looked like a normal closet that hadn't been opened in years, until now.

Naruto had a hard time believing that what looked like an entrance to a dungeon was a mere broom closet. "O-oh…..WHAATT??! What the hell kind of a closet is THAT??!!"

Sasuke simply ignored and began to walk away after shutting the closet door, "C'mon follow me."

Naruto stood still for a moment then quietly obeyed and followed behind. When he caught up to Sasuke's pace he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with the awkward silence that fell soon after.

He kept his focus on the floor below as they headed down the corridor in silence. He wondered for a bit about how Sasuke could actually manage to live in such a large home by himself. Naruto knew that it would drive him to the brick of insanity. And for all he knew the raven occupant could've been one of those silent crazy folks. But for some reason he doubted that, Sasuke seemed to calm to be so. Naruto almost felt the urge to ask why he had never seen the likes of him in town, or why everyone thought this home to be abandoned for so many years? Maybe there was a good reason for it. _"I don't want to butt into the personal life of someone I barely know though.."_

"Um.. Soo.." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "I'm not in trouble for being in _that area _am I? I mean I _was_ lured there after all.."

He received no answer.

Okay try again. "Gee I guess it was a ghosty friend of yours that was messing with me huh? I sure as hell know I'm not crazy enough to hear voices! Ehe?"

Sasuke continued to walk ahead in silence.

Naruto furrowed his brows, he hated being ignored more than anything else. "So how old are you? You seem kinda young to be on your own."

It was again silent for a few seconds before the Uchiha finally spoke in that monotonous tone, "A lot older than you."

Naruto felt quite accomplished by receiving somewhat of an answer, "Not by much though, a year or two? I just turned sixteen a few months ago."

No answer again.

Damn, he thought he had an actual conversation going…

They finally reached the Grand staircase in much shorter time than Naruto had expected they would have. Of course Sasuke probably knew all the shortcuts to his own home.

Sasuke stopped in the foyer and turned towards the blond teen "Well I hope your satisfied now by roaming my home, but I need sleep now so I think it's time for you to take your leave." He held out his hand towards the entry of the manor.

Naruto had finished stumbling down the staircase and his jaw nearly dropped, "What! I didn't even get one picture yet! This place is like a fucking castle! And what do you mean sleep? Its like two o' clock!" He was being kicked out awfully early in the day.. Plus he didn't get anything done aside from a few pictures of hallways and the staircase.

"Well then come back tomorrow damnit, and I happen to be tired so can you leave now? Here-" He picked up the bag that Naruto had abandoned that night which was now sitting on a piece of furniture covered in white cloth, and shoved it in the blonds arms.

Naruto made a slight 'oof' sound and griped the schoolbag against his chest, "Alright alright! Jeez.. Well thanks anyway for letting me do this project on your home.. even though you are a teme.. Er bastard." He shook his head. "Whatever see yah!" Naruto waved a hand in the air as headed for the door to make his leave.

"Oi wait."

Naruto peered over his shoulder to the tall figure of Sasuke who still stood statuesque in the middle of the foyer, "Huh?"

"Don't go telling people about me.. I'd rather be left alone. So keep that obnoxiously large mouth of yours shut." And with that he turned on his heel and headed off.

"You really couldn't have said that a little nicer? Asshole.." Naruto snorted and exited the manor.

* * *

The Uchiha stood silently in the doorway of his darkened bedroom for a moment, thinking. What that idiotic blond had said was still bothering him. And it was probably going to for the rest of the day.. 

"Hm.. strange **he** was the only one that ever called me that.."

_Sasuke-teme.._

_"Just who is this Naruto Uzumaki kid..?"_

* * *

"Honey I'm Hoooome!" Naruto called out as he entered the apartment with the normal large grin. He tossed his camera on the couch and carelessly dropped his bag beside the front door. 

Iruka poked his head out of his bedroom with a weird expression on his face, "Honey??"

"Haha just messin, I just always wanted to say that!" The blond teen made a light chuckle and flopped lazily onto the sofa.

Iruka fully walked out of the bedroom with pencil resting behind his ear and carrying a small stack of papers with him, he headed for the dining table to set them down. He was a writer whenever he had the time, it was always a dream of his to publish an original story and make tons off of it, but until then he had his other job to attend to.

"Well you seem to be in a good mood. Where've you been all afternoon?"

"Taking pictures of this one guys house for a photography project, well trying to at least.., it's uh.. pretty creepy but actually.. kinda _cool_ in a weird way." Naruto said then made a reach for the remote control that was laying on the other sofa.

Iruka's brow raised high in surprise, "I thought you hated creepy things?"

Naruto shrugged in response, beginning to flip through channels, "I do but.. I dunno there's a weird urge to go back and get more pictures, and hopefully I can have the owner give me a historical background on the place." _If he isn't stubborn enough.._

"hm, well as long as your having fun then, I'm gonna get dinner ready now-"

Naruto shot up at the speed of light and beamed at his guardian with glittering eyes, "Ramen?!"

His guardian chuckled as he headed into the small kitchen, "Something a little more healthy today. Your seriously going to die if you keep eating that junk everyday Naruto."

"mm whatever…" The blond relaxed back into his seat. Iruka was slightly surprised by this calm reaction. Usually he would begin to ramble about how ramen was a God given food on this earth and whatnot. _He must be exhausted or something. _

"Can you turn on the news Naruto? I wanna see the weather forecast for tomorrow."

"Why you going somewhere?"

"A _friend_ invited me for a nice little outing is that alright with you?" He asked in an almost uncharacteristically stubborn tone, while pulling white rice out of the pantry.

A devilish grin spread across the blonds face, "Ahhh I seee… Iruka's got a new _'friend'_."

Naruto ducked as Iruka launched a wooden spoon at his direction. Then shot his head back up while madly waving a fist in the air, "Are you trying to kill me?!"

Iruka sighed, "Enough Naruto, you don't hear me making jokes when you go places with friends."

"Yeah sure." He grinned cheekily, whiskered shaped scars stretching across his cheeks, then flipped to the news channel as Iruka had requested.

"_Sousuke Komori was last seen yesterday walking home from a late soccer practice, parents say he had not returned home that night and filed a missing persons report today. There is still no information on the suspect as of yet. If you have any information on the whereabouts of this young boy please contact the police. In other news.." _

Iruka closed his eyes for a moment and leaned thoughtfully against the counter, "That's the fifth person this month."

Naruto quickly sat up straight and pointed madly at the screen, "Hey I know that guy, he was my lab partner in biology last semester!"

"Naruto from now on I don't want you roaming around the streets by yourself anymore, clear?"

"Puh-_lease_, If anyone comes near me I can just kung fu his ass straight to China and-!"

"_Naruto_." Iruka firmly spoke, indicating that this really wasn't any sort of joking matter.

He purposely ignored and continued rambling, "Or I can just have Kiba on a leash and he can be my guard dog.."

"Juuust listen to what I say once, I don't want to see your picture on the news or milk carton or whatever as a missing child okay." Rubbing his temples, Iruka turned around and proceeded to cook a nice healthy meal for two.

"Your one helluva mother hen you know that.." Naruto pointed out as matter of fact.

"Yeah well.. Live with it kid."

* * *

Wow okay theres the long awaited update. Sorry bout that! -so I guess ill be back in another five months or so ne? (reader throws brick at head) o-orr ..s-sooner..(passes out with little naruto's and sasuke's dancing in circles above) 

ah but until the next chapter, you can check out my new spooky story called The Third Eye, (SasuNaru of coursh) -grins-

ReView! I tell you your comments mean alot- and its a major motivation boost!


	6. Back to Play

Holy hell it's been a loooong looooooooong time since I've updated, wow..

And it's very short to, maybe a little rushed :shot: .. Sorry. Haha I hope some of my readers haven't totally lost interest in this. And it's been so long I'm sure most of you might have to skim through previous chapters to know what the hell's going on.

I look back at other chapters an I'm like.. Ugh sooo many grammatical errors it makes my eyes bleed. (and with how quickly I typed this crap out there are probably quite a few mistakes as well)

Moving on..

* * *

**.:Chapter Six:.**

**Back to Play**

* * *

Panting heavily, his chest rose high above him with every deep, rhythmic breath he took. He clutched the sheets tightly at both sides of his squirming figure; the fabric between his fingers were on the verge of tearing as his clammy grip intensified. Sweat was pouring down the boy's lightly tanned skin as he vigorously whipped his head from right to left, letting out small whimpers and groans through clenched teeth.

Eyes shot open extensively, revealing two orbs of hazy, cerulean blue, and the teen lurched violently upward from his sleeping position. His breath was ragged and short, and his golden hair in a tangled mess.

His eyes darted towards the alarm clock sitting silently on the bedside table, it read 3:24 AM. The blond let out a shaky sigh and lethargically pulled his knees against his chest, arms wrapping around them protectively.

"_That dream again.. T-that damn nightmare.." _Naruto slowly rested his forehead against both of his trembling hands. It was the second time in a row that he had experienced such a horrific dream, and this time it was worse; he couldn't even describe how frightening it was… and how realistic it had seemed. It felt like a memory. No.. he had never had such a horrific memory.

His room was completely covered in darkness… not even the moon bothered to offer him a speck of light to ease the sudden rise of fear swelling in the his chest. After waking up from such a dream paranoia ensued; he could only continue to imagine something crawling out from beneath his bed and grabbing his leg, or possible entities lurking in the shadows, watching him with malevolent eyes..

Naruto kicked away the sweat soaked sheets, jumped off the bed and hastily headed towards the bathroom, desperately wanting to flick on a light source. He nearly tripped over a shoe on the way and clumsily stumbled into the bathroom that was connected to his room.

He flicked on the lights, hissing at the sudden overpowering brightness that stung his sensitive eyes. Naruto leaned against the marble counter for a moment; both hands clutching the edges as he stared at his reflection groggily. His eyes were squinted, still adjusting to the offensive fluorescent lighting.

"_I look like shit.." _He chuckled, almost bitterly at his reflection.

The teen had bags under his slightly swollen eyes, and his skin seemed paler, glistening with streaks of sweat. His limp, blonde bangs were stuck to his face, also damp from his body's perspiration.

Naruto became well aware that his limbs were still shaking; and every few moments as visions of the previous nightmare flashed through his mind, an involuntary chill would drive up his spine like a cold, steel blade thrusting into his back.

"What the hell does it mean? Why.. Why did I have it again?" Naruto mumbled to his reflection, not overly out of it enough to expect a reply from it. He then turned the faucet of the sink beneath him and collected a handful of ice cold water. He stared at it for a moment before splashing his face with the liquid, then began to slightly relax as he felt his face begin to numb from the coldness.

* * *

Naruto slung his bag over his shoulder and headed for the front door in a quickened pace. "I'm off to school!" He shouted loud enough for Iruka to hear, whom was currently in the kitchen area.

He could hear the sound of what seemed to be his guardian dropping a handful of slippery dishes into the sink with a loud 'clank' then scramble out of the kitchen. Hastily and almost desperately he asked Naruto from behind, "Do you need me to drive you there?!"

Naruto was halfway out the door when he turned around, surprised at Iruka's forced grin combined with pleading eyes, "Uh.. I always ride my bike or walk."

So, this was weird, Iruka almost never offered to drive him to school. Main reason being that he had work to leave to in a few minutes and his job was on the other side of town which was the opposite direction of Naruto's school.

"W-well it might be a little safer if I-" Naruto sighed through his nose, of course.. Iruka was worried that poor, defenseless little Naruto was going to be kidnapped by a pedophile on the streets.. Should've seen that one coming. _"I'm not a girl I can handle myself.." _…Of course if he said that around Sakura she probably would've nailed his jawbone for implying that girls were weak. …Sometimes he wondered if Sakura was even a girl.. With all that brute force he was starting to believe she was born the wrong gender.

_Okay stop thinking about Sakura's manliness now.._

"Iruka! I think I can manage riding my bike to school without being molested and murdered on the way! Jeez quite being such a worry wart." Naruto threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

Iruka's head hung slightly limp and he sighed, "Alright.. Your right, you should be fine, I'm just being.. _protective_ that's all. There have been many missing children lately and I-"

Naruto rudely cut him off, already knowing what his foster parent was going to say. He just really had to speed the conversation up if he was ever going to make it to school on time.. Not that he ever did, but still. "Yeah, I know.. If it makes you feel any better I'm gonna be riding to school along with Kiba too," He grinned at his guardian then glanced at his Spiderman wristwatch, which no one else but him thought was cool but fuck them, he loved Spiderman, "Crap I gotta go, bye!"

Before Iruka could say anything there was a slam at the door and Naruto was gone. The scarred face man rubbed the back of his head and sighed, "Teenagers..."

* * *

"Hey Naruto, you gonna tell me what the hell you were freaking out about yesterday or what?"

Naruto snapped out of his long, skyward daze and turned towards Kiba, "uh…Huh?"

The two teens were pushing their bikes down the sidewalk, the school no less than a five minute walk ahead.

"Don't act stupid, y'know! Yesterday on the phone? You started yelling about something then you hung up on me! Dude.. you left me hanging on the other line baffled as hell. So what happened? You burn your ramen or something?" He chuckled, it wouldn't have been a surprise if that was the case, Naruto always went crazy over the most trivial of things.

"Oh! That.. I forgot ehe.. Um N-no yah see I..I.." Naruto suddenly grinned inwardly when the perfect excuse suddenly accumulated in his teeny little mind, "You see, I cried out in _distress _and had to hang up on you because my dog snatched my camera away from me and ended up chewing it into little pieces! So .. Not only was my new camera destroyed but the pictures I bravely worked so hard to obtain from the manor have all perished as well… it was a very dramatic moment for me…" The over-exaggeration of the story was very overwhelming.. Naruto was even breathing heavily when he finished; he even faked a tear and sniffle.

Kiba stared mindlessly at his blond friend for about ten seconds before he spoke slowly, "Naruto… you don't _have_ a dog."

_Oh Shit I don't! Stupid!! _"Uh, A-actually, Iruka got me a dog yesterday morning! It was a surprise.. um early birthday gift! Yeah… his name is.. U-uh Fluffy!" **(1)**

"Oookay… Let me come over so I can see this new dog of yours, maybe Fluffy and Akamaru can be play buddies eehh??"

"U-uh well y-yah see I kinda have to go somewhere right after school.."

"Where?"

Damn Kiba and his persistent inquiries! "The Uchiha Mansion. I told you my camera was totaled so I'm gonna have to start over and also grab information about the history from the owner- _I _meeeaaan… over the computer…or library.." Shit.. He almost forgot about the death glare Sasuke gave him after saying not to tell anyone about him living there.

"Ah alright then, hey do you need any help with that stuff man? Cuz you sound like you're behind on the project. It's due by the end of this week you know."

"Thanks, but.. I think I can manage."

Kiba sighed and gave his blonde buddy a good pat on the back, "Well, just forget about that stupid bet thing then, I knew you wouldn't be able to handle it without screwing something up anyway.. Or getting your 'new dog' to screw it up."

"..Gee thanks." Naruto laughed slowly, he didn't know whether to be relieved or embarrassed.

* * *

School went by pretty quickly for Naruto. He realized that many of his friends seemed to be slightly worried about him, asking him if anything was bothering him, all day long. Most likely because he wasn't acting his usual goofy self today.. He found himself spacing out during class, staring blankly out the window daydreaming, and being abnormally quiet around his friends during lunchtime. When they did ask him what was wrong, he simply shrugged and walked away.

The blonde just decided he was probably going through some kind of hormonal change, which would probably explain why he didn't feel like being around anyone or communicating so actively as usual.

After over about a half hours walk from school, he found himself in the desolate and familiar neighborhood aligned with old Victorian-esque homes.

"I.. don't really feel like doing this now.. But I gotta get this project done I guess.."

* * *

The vampire had already sensed the young blondes presence just as he stepped foot in front of the Uchiha manor. His aura was a special, rare, and unexplainably dense one. He could practically smell it a mile away if he were searching for it.

The raven smirked, "The little blonde boy has come back to play." He chuckled lightly, standing in front of a dusty unlit fireplace that stood nearly twice his size, while staring up at a painting above it; which showed a young man with long, dirty blonde locks of hair, and eyes like the deep sea, that looked similarly to the Uzumaki kid.

"Hmph…No wonder."

"Why, I haven't seen you look so amused in decades, Master Sasuke."

Sasuke slightly bowed his head, shifting his gaze away from the painting, "That was a dirty little trick you played on him yesterday, Kakashi, pretending to be his little girlfriend stuck in a closet."

"Haha.. I was just curious about him, a lot of us are. He's a very interesting person with a fascinating aura."

There was a pause for a few moments, then a cold draft passed and the other presence was gone.

"Interesting indeed.."

* * *

**(1)** OO; surely no one forgot about dear Fluffy from the third chapter right?

A/N : Like I said before ..extremely short chapter compared to the others. It might be a long time before I update again guys.. Sorry. See I just kinda ..lost interest in Naruto (although I still keep up with the chapters) Well okay more like.. I'm not as obsessed with the SasuNaru paring as I use to be. In fact I actually don't really care that much for it anymore. ;; it's a sad thing and It's all the fault of this new Animanga I got into a few months ago called Katekyo Hitman Reborn! OAO I'm srsly obsessed with it.. And the pairing YamaGoku from that series kinda REALLY owns my soul right now (if anyone watches/reads it you know what I'm talking about then)

Sighh so Maybe I'll start writing for that pairing soon.. (I really don't have much time lately tho..)

But I still like this story and I've had so many ideas for it that I don't think I should let go to waste, so I'll try to update but don't hold your breath guys.. It might be a very long time till then OTL


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